HENDERSON, Nev. — Aidan O’Connell, recovered from a broken thumb on his right (passing) hand, will start at quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders at the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday, coach Antonio Pierce said Wednesday.
“Aidan’s looking good,” Pierce said. “We’ll throw the ball a little bit today in practice, but he’s done good over the last two days with some walk-throughs and, obviously, [practicing] indoors, but we’ll see how it looks today.
“But we feel good about Aidan. He’s been dialed in, obviously, throughout this time that he’s been on IR. He’s done all the meetings. He’s been very encouraging on the sideline. He’s got that laser-eye focus right now. Great opportunity for him.”
O’Connell, on injured reserve since Oct. 22, had his practice window opened Monday.
“It’s not 100%, but it’s pretty close,” O’Connell said Tuesday. “It’s felt pretty good the last few days throwing. I got to throw starting a little bit in the last couple of weeks and that’s been good. It’s been kind of horrible not being able to do that.
“To be able to go out there and grip the football and throw a little bit has been awesome. So, yeah, we’re progressing how we want to … it’s not just throwing the ball 5 yards to a guy, it’s throwing routes deeper and things like that.”
O’Connell lost a training camp battle to free agent signee Gardner Minshew but took over for an ineffective Minshew in Week 6. It was in O’Connell’s second start, at the Los Angeles Rams on Oct. 22, when he suffered the broken thumb on a follow-through of a pass attempt.
“It was a bone break, so there’s not a lot you can do except sit there and wait, which isn’t ideal,” O’Connell said. “But there’s some modalities you can do in the training room and then just trying to get soft tissue on it and range of motion, all those things. But yeah, a lot of it was sitting around and waiting, which is not my favorite thing.”
Minshew reassumed starting after O’Connell’s injury, but then he suffered a season-ending broken collarbone late in the Raiders’ 29-19 loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
O’Connell, having sat out four games, then became eligible to come off IR.
Desmond Ridder, signed off the Arizona Cardinals‘ practice squad on Oct. 22, has played sparingly in three games, completing 16 of 26 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown with a lost fumble. He has been sacked six times.
O’Connell, meanwhile, has appeared in four games, two starts, and has passed for 455 yards in completing 52 of 82 attempts with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He has been sacked three times.
He is the last quarterback to beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, helping lead the Raiders to a 20-14 win there last Christmas Day, even as he did not complete a pass after the first quarter.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs are tied with the Lions for the best record in the NFL at 10-1, while the Raiders are tied with the Giants for the worst at 2-9.
“Let’s call a spade a spade … the best team in football against the worst team in football,” Pierce said. “Let’s change the narrative, right? Let’s just go out there, make it a dog fight, make it ugly, make it scrappy. It’s Black Friday, let’s create a little chaos. Get back to Raider football and have some fun and [show] some personality and let it loose.”
