Gardner Minshew may start this weekend after all.
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce said Wednesday that despite his struggles and the team’s seemingly constant rotation at the position, Minshew will start at quarterback Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.
“Listen, when we brought in Gardner, we obviously expected the play that we had seen in the past and at some point you have to give someone confidence,” Pierce said, via ESPN. “And obviously there have been times with turnovers and other things that have happened where we’ve made the decision to bench him or go to another quarterback.
“But this week I felt like Gardner gives us the best chance to move forward and he has every opportunity to go out and help us to victory.”
The Raiders have struggled across the board this season and they haven’t had a consistent quarterback since the beginning. Minshew, Aidan O’Connell and Desmond Ridder have all cycled the position and none have had much success.
Minshew opened the season as the team’s starter, but O’Connell took over in Week 5. Minshew bounced back after O’Connell broke his thumb a few weeks later, but he was benched in the second half of their most recent defeat for Knight. .
The Raiders are 2-7 on the season coming out of their bye week. They also fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, offensive line coach James Cregg and quarterbacks coach Rich Scangearello before halftime. The team brought in Norv Turner as a senior advisor, among others.
Minshew, who signed a two-year, $25 million deal with the Raiders last offseason, has thrown for 1,501 yards with six touchdowns and eight interceptions this season. He has 12 total turnovers and averages 1.5 per game – both of which are the second-worst among quarterbacks in the league. Only Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold has more.
While the Raiders appear to be well out of contention for a playoff spot, and it would take a wild turnaround for them to make the postseason in a few months, Pierce hopes their week off will at least can get things going.
“I had to take a good cold shower, a cold bath and wash off everything bad during the nine games, and I think our staff did the same thing,” Pierce said. “I know our players did that, but they were still near the building, which is the best part, right?
“People might question our locker room, might question our culture, might question me, but you can’t question our commitment. We are committed to this bad boy and we will turn it around.”
