The switch to Aidan O’Connell as the starting quarterback has yielded great results for the Las Vegas Raiders quite yet. In his first start of the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he only led the offense to 13 points in a loss.
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The biggest problem with O’Connell is that he has no ability to run the ball. In fact, he’s doing something no other quarterback in the NFL can say they’ve done. According to Next Gen Stats, O’Connell hasn’t attempted one scramble rush out of the 442 career dropbacks he’s had since entering the NFL.
He’s the only quarterback to not attempt a scramble rush on a minimum of 150 dropbacks since Next Gen Stats was created.
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O’Connell isn’t very athletic so it’s probably for the best that he doesn’t run the ball often. That said, it seems impossible that he hasn’t had a single scramble rush. He has run the ball but never in a scrambling situation.
That’s likely why the Raiders decided to start the season with Gardner Minshew. While he’s got a lot of faults as a passer, he showed that he could tuck the ball and run if he needed to. The NFL values quarterbacks who can run so it’s highly unlikely O’Connell is going to start many games after this season.
Aidan O’Connell Talks Davante Adams Trade
O’Connell’s job just got a lot harder as the Raiders traded away star wide receiver Davante Adams to the New York Jets. The two had grown a strong rapport dating back to last season but O’Connell is just glad that the situation has been resolved.
“Yeah, it’s been hard,” O’Connell said during his October 16 press conference. “Obviously, we love Tae and wish he was here. An awesome player, great guy for us, has meant a lot to me in my career thus far, and so definitely going to miss him.
“Clarity is always good. But I think more than that, we’ll just miss him.”
While it was disappointing that Adams wanted a trade, O’Connell credited the wide receiver for helping him a lot.
“He was always pouring into me, showing his encouragement and support for me,” O’Connell said. “And so, yeah, I have a lot of great memories. Obviously, he made me look good on a lot of great catches.”
O’Connell Praises Raiders WRs
With Adams gone, the Raiders need Jakobi Meyers and Tre Tucker to step up. O’Connell is confident that they will be able to play well.
“Those guys are workers,” he said. “Obviously, both of those guys have awesome speed, which is fun to watch. But I think, really, just tinkering with the rest of their game has been fun to watch for both of those guys. I mean, even as I’m talking, I think Tre is in there working out. … So, it’s fun to see guys like that, and that permeates throughout the whole locker room.”
Meyers is banged up right now and could miss his second game in a row. This is a great opportunity for Tucker to show what he can do. If he can’t consistently get open, it’ll be another long game for the Raiders offense.
