HENDERSON, Nev.--The Las Vegas Raiders are in the midst of their fifth week of training camp and are preparing to host the San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium on Friday in the last exhibition of this season.
Silver and Black Coach Antonio Pierce has announced that Gardner Minshew is the team's starting quarterback, and the team is moving on.
None of the starters will play on Friday night.
Moments ago, before the last practice of the week, Antonio Pierce spoke about the state of Raider Nation from Raiders Training Camp.
We have everything that he said for you, and you can watch it below:
Las Vegas Raiders Coach Antonio Pierce spoke recently before practice, and below is a partial transcript.
Opening Statement: "I'm going to go ahead and start off, Gardner Minshew is going to be the starting quarterback this 2024 season. Myself, [Tom] Telesco, and Luke Getsy discussed it this morning. A lot of things went into it. It wasn't based off the last night. There's a lot of factors, so we feel like Gardner gives us the best opportunity to get off to a fast start, and that's what we're going with. We support him, our teams behind it, our staff behind it, organizations behind it."
Q: Not in terms of necessarily all the specifics, but what would you say outweighed in favor of Gardner Minshew over Aidan O'Connell?
Coach Pierce: "Experience, the operation, the processing. The same thing we saw in practice, some of it showed up in the games. A lot ofstuff we can get better at. I don't think anything here is a finished product but based off the first quarter of the season, we feel like Gardner [Minshew] gives us the best opportunity."
Q: After you watched the film and have now sat here after two games, can you discuss with us your thoughts on your offensive line? Obviously, no Kolton Miller, but I'm just curious about your thoughts on the development of your offensive line.
Coach Pierce: "I thought last night, the protection was pretty, pretty good. I mean, the quarterback was clean for most of the part, I think we gave up a sack. I think what you’re seeing with [Thayer] Munford and DJ [Glaze], you see two guys that's really battling and competing. Really appreciate the two veterans that we have there, [Andrus] Peat, [Cody] Whitehair, and Andre James has been a true anchor and just a veteran presence for us. But credit to James Cregg and Joe Philbin, they've done an outstanding job of just developing those guys. At times, it's not always perfect, especially when you get those younger guys in here, man, but the mentality isthere to finish, the strain, we're getting better and better each and every week, and you see some of our younger guys develop."
Q: Now that you've made the decision, you've seen obviously, weeks and weeks of him, now you've seen two games. What are some of the things you'd like to see from Gardner Minshew going forward? The characteristics you want to see him leading this team?
Coach Pierce: "Yeah, well, one, his personality is affectionate, his image is affectionate, his leadership is affectionate. Things of improvement, footwork in the pocket, staying on script. There's some magic about him when he does break the pocket and does his thing, but there's a lot of times where if the first or second read is there, we got to let it rip. So, he understands that, and more importantly taking care of the football."
Q: Something that you mentioned after the Vikings game, we talked about it, the run defense was something that you were looking to improve. The Cowboys had a good amount of success in that area yesterday, is there something that kind of stood out to you on looking at the tape that's creating issues in that area?
Coach Pierce: "Yeah, it's still an issue. I mean, we just weren’t good enough. I think over 114 yards in the first yards in the first half. Again, not the standard. A lot of leaky yards, we're not getting off blocks, we're Las Vegas Raiders Transcript 8.18.24 not being violent enough up front. We're too talented, too skilled, too much length to stay blocked. And again, that's something I know our coaches are going to harp on in individual. We'll continue to work on that, but that's not the standard. It's now two weeks of it, and obviously we got to do more in practice."
Q: I know you've informed both quarterbacks, I'm just curious what the reaction was, not just from Gardner Minshew, but from Aidan O'Connell moving forward."
Coach Pierce: "Yeah, first and foremost, man, those two gentlemen are professionals. The way they've handled this competition has really resonated throughout our building, especially our staff and our team. They've cheered each other on, they've been good teammates. They brought out the best version of each other in practices and I think in the games. They both took it on the chin like a champ. And I told them, just both be ready. It's the National Football League, you never know. But Aidan [O'Connell] is a young player that has a tremendous upside that I think will still be a starter some point here in this league, if it's this year or next year. But he will play in games, and I think Gardner's [Minshew] done a good job of being that older presence you know, because he's played a couple years in league and he's been through some adversities, so that's been good for Aidan."
Q: Could you please discuss Tommy Eichenberg and him going forward?
Coach Pierce: "Yeah, Tommy's [Eichenberg] been dealing with a lower leg injury, hopefully we'll have him back here. He won't play in the preseason game, but hopefully we'll have him back by the regularseason."
Q: When you talked about the quarterback situation going forward, you've all you referred to the first quarter of the season, getting off to that quick start. Does that mean that there's a shorter leash, so to speak? Why do you phrase it that way?
Coach Pierce: "I do everything in sections. I mean, you're going to get the whole season. We want to get off to a fast start, right? Got two games on the road, two at home, that's the first quarter of the season for us.
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