Heading into the Week 3 matchup with the winless Carolina Panthers, the Las Vegas Raiders, who were fresh off an impressive come-from-behind win over the Baltimore Ravens, were expected to cruise to victory in their home opener at Allegiant Stadium.
However, the Panthers were ready and prepared to make a statement this past Sunday, with head coach Dave Canales making the controversial decision to change at the quarterback position. Canales and the Panthers coaching staff chose to bench former No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young in favor of veteran Andy Dalton.
Even though many predicted a blowout with the Raiders looking good the previous week against the Ravens, Las Vegas was outplayed from start to finish. Maxx Crosby and company couldn’t keep up with the Panthers offense, which seemed to be reborn with Dalton taking the snaps under center.
After the devastating loss to the Panthers in Las Vegas, head coach Antonio Pierce called out some of his players in the postgame press conference, claiming that some players made business decisions rather than trying to continue playing hard while down by a considerable margin.
With Pierce upset about his team’s effort, there was some talk that he could bench starting quarterback Gardner Minshew and start Aidan O’Connell in Week 4 against the Cleveland Browns, but that doesn’t appear to be the case, according to ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez.
Gardner Minshew will remain the Las Vegas Raiders’ starting quarterback for the team’s home game Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, a team source confirmed Tuesday.
“Nothing was ever pondered,” the source said, regarding a potential switch.
In the loss against the Panthers, Minshew threw for 214 yards, a touchdown and an interception before getting pulled for O’Connell, who passed for an efficient 82 yards and a touchdown, completing nine of the 12 passes he threw.
O’Connell looked sharp in his short time on the field in Week 3, but the game was already out of hand with the Panthers taking their foot off the gas pedal.
Although a quarterback change wasn’t made after Week 3, it seems as though Minshew has a short leash moving forward, meaning he might not be the starter for much longer if he can lead this team to wins.
