The Las Vegas Raiders have decided who will start their preseason Week 2 game on Saturday night, and the team will reportedly make a decision on who will be the starter for Week 1 on Sunday.
According to Vic Tafur of The Athletic, the Raiders will start Gardner Minshew over Aidan O'Connell against the Dallas Cowboys. Also, Tafur reports that the team will make its decision for who will start Week 1 on Sunday. Whether or not they make that decision public right away remains to be seen.
Neither of these bits of news are particularly surprising. After all, Minshew was expected to start this week after O'Connell got the nod last week, and head coach Antonio Pierce said during the week he hoped to make a decision about the team's starter for the regular season after the second preseason game.
Minshew gets the start tonight, with decision on starter coming tomorrow. https://t.co/DdWbMVKjKl
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) August 17, 2024
Neither quarterback has been able to create significant separation in the competition all offseason long. Things weren't really any clearer after the first preseason game after both quarterbacks played well.
Minshew did lead the Raiders on a pair of touchdowns drives, with his finding pay dirt on a pass in one of them. However, he also faced the Minnesota Vikings' second-team defense and had three drives to O'Connell's one.
Even with that, O'Connell played well in his lone drive, completing 7-of-9 passes for 76 yards. The drive stalled in the red zone, though, leading to a Raiders field goal.
Both quarterbacks will have one last shot to prove they deserve the job out of the gate in 2024. And, after an offseason of uncertainty, we'll finally have an answer not long after the second exhibition contest.