Preseason losses and underperformance aren’t always a cause for concern, but when you’re the Raiders you just want to win. Regardless of the results head coach Antonio Pierce, coordinator Luke Getsy, and general manager Tom Telesco saw enough to name Gardner Minshew the Raiders’ week one starter the Sunday following the preseason game against the Cowboys. Here are the top takeaways from Week 2 of the preseason.
Top Takeaways from Preseason Week 2
Antonio Pierce Names The Starting Quarterback
It didn’t take long after their loss for The Raiders to choose the starting quarterback for week one against the Chargers. Following Saturday’s loss Pierce said that he, Tom Telesco, and Luke Getsy would look through the entire offseason as well as the preseason in their consideration of who would be named the starter before the third and final preseason game. The very next day head coach Antonio Pierce named Gardner Minshew the Raiders’ starter over a Zoom press conference. The team wants to get off to a fast start in the regular season and it’s obvious now that The Raiders think Minshew gives them the best chance to deliver wins early on. Especially considering Minshew’s experience and the high-paying contract.
The quarterback competition was reportedly neck and neck all offseason with neither player standing out over the other by much. Instead, two underwhelming quarterback campaigns this offseason left the coaches with a tough decision that came down to a whole lot more than Saturday’s game against the Cowboys. Purely looking at the stat sheet Aidan O’Connell’s body of work is more promising, however when looking at the tape the play might say otherwise. Minshew averaged 20 more yards passing than O’Connell over the two preseason games but completed less than 50 percent of his passes. Meanwhile, O’Connell completed 72 percent of his passes for considerably fewer yards per completion but took care of the ball and even had some great throws downfield. O’Connell also threw a horrible pick-six to the Cowboys’ third and fourth-string players that suddenly turned his good game into average and uninspiring. It’s hard to believe that this didn’t factor in quite a bit in the decision as well.
With their stats side by side, Minshews’s gunslinger classification as a quarterback is obvious compared to the more traditional pure pocket passer that is O’Connell. Minshew misses a considerable amount of throws, but can also catalyze the offense with big plays downfield whether it’s 1st and 10 or 3rd and 10. His experience with big-time plays is likely a huge factor for a team that struggled to produce consistent deep threats as an offense a year ago.
The Raiders failed to consistently run the ball in the preseason so far only gaining 68 rush yards against the Cowboys. One of the quickest ways to free up running lanes is to have a defense respect the pass downfield to free up assignments in the box and Minshew can provide that. However, this goes both ways as running the ball is the traditional way of setting up big passes, but that’s impossible if the run game can’t get started, especially in the red zone. So Minshew extending the play with his feet or a big throw to Davantae Adams downfield on third down instead of a safe check-down can shift the momentum of a game. The Raiders weren’t shown enough by incumbent Aidan O’Connell to deny Gardner Minshew the chance to do what gunslingers do best, just win.
At the end of the day, this choice seems like one where Minshew still has to prove himself come week one. This has to do with Pierce’s comments about starting this season fast and the fact that they aren’t paying Minshew like a backup. If Minshew can’t get wins at the start of the season it seems very likely that Aidan O’Connell will have a chance to play. Only time will tell if this is the right decision of course. Based on how both quarterbacks were so evenly matched it can’t be said that The Raiders made the wrong decision if they have no problem benching Minshew if he doesn’t perform.
Tre Tucker and DJ Turner Shining
Second-year wide receiver Tre Tucker and fourth-year wide receiver DJ Turner are having a great preseason. These two players are becoming what the Raiders envisioned them to be when signing them. For Tucker, The Raiders drafted him to develop his talent into a consistent deep threat. That is exactly what he’s becoming with two straight preseason games leading the Raiders in receiving yards featuring deep catches no matter the quarterback in the game. The only hope now is that he continues to do this come the regular season when Davante Adams and Brock Bowers will be on the field with the full playbook at their disposal.
DJ Turner has slowly been moving up The Raiders depth chart since being signed as an undrafted free agent in 2021. Now, Turner is making plays deep and taking short throws for first downs in these preseason games. He caught a beautiful 20-yard touchdown in the red zone against the Vikings and caught five passes for a couple of first downs against the Cowboys. One of which was a highlight where he broke multiple tackles on a short pass.
These two Raider prospects are turning the corner in their development where they can contribute as standouts on this offense that could use some speedy deep threats to support Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers.
Defense Gets A Reality Check…Sort Of
The Raiders coveted defense and its starters got a lot of snaps against the Cowboys’ second, third, and fourth-string players in week two of the preseason. They gave up multiple big runs and once the defensive line starters were pulled it got worse. Jack Jones also made a huge mistake in the second quarter getting beat one on one for a touchdown against a third-string wide receiver. However bad this looked in the moment it shouldn’t have any real impact on the potential of The Raiders’ defense for the regular season.
Playbooks are often limited during the preseason. The Raiders’ starters on defense were likely running a very basic playbook and getting looks to get ready for the regular season which resulted in mistakes. The Raiders only gave up 13 points with starters on the field three of which came on a 66-yard field goal. Jakorian Bennett had a great game, which was very encouraging given that he is most likely to be the one to line up across from Jack Jones who despite the mistake had two passes defensed. That being said, Jones’ blown one-on-one coverage and the big runs against backups won’t go unnoticed. If anything these mistakes are friendly reminders to stay sharp and come into this season ready to shut out their division rivals The Chargers.
Preseason Week 2 for the Raiders didn’t go how they wanted to be sure, but it still led to them naming Gardner Minshew the starting quarterback for week one. Based on the performances, Minshew looks like the starter who gets to be the first one to lose his job to O’Connell if Minshew doesn’t win early on. No starters will be playing in week three, so the starting lineup is now fully locked in for the regular season.
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