After all, Gardner Minshew will start this weekend.
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce said Wednesday that despite his struggles and the team’s seemingly constant turnover at the position, Minshew will start at quarterback Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.
“Listen, when we brought in Gardner, we were expecting, obviously, the play we’d seen in the past, and at some point, you’ve got to give a guy confidence,” Pierce said. via ESPN. “And there have been times, obviously, with turnovers and other things that have happened, where we made decisions to bench him or go to another quarterback.
“But this week I felt like Gardner gives us the best opportunity to move forward and has every opportunity to come out and help us get a win.”
The Raiders have struggled across the board this season and haven’t had a consistent quarterback from the start. Minshew, Aidan O’Connell and Desmond Ridder have all come through the role and none of them have had much success.
Minshew opened the season as the team’s starter, but O’Connell took over in Week 5. Minshew returned after O’Connell broke his thumb a few weeks later, but was benched in the second half of their loss. most recent before Ridder. .
The Raiders are 2-7 on the season after their bye week. They also fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, offensive line coach James Cregg and quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello before the break. Among other moves, the team hired Norv Turner as a senior advisor.
Minshew, who signed a two-year, $25 million contract with the Raiders last offseason, has thrown for 1,501 yards with six touchdowns and eight interceptions this season. He has 12 total turnovers and an average of 1.5 per game, both of which are second-worst among quarterbacks in the league. Only Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold has more.
Although the Raiders appear to be out of contention for a playoff spot, and it would take a big turnaround for them to make the postseason in a few months, Pierce hopes his bye week can at least help get things started.
“I needed to take a nice cold shower, a cold bath, wash away all the nastiness that took place over the nine games and I think our staff did the same thing,” Pierce said. “I know our players did it, but they were still in the building, which is the best thing, right?
“People might question our locker room, they might question our culture, they might question me, but you can’t question our commitment. We are committed to this bad boy and turning it around.”