Antonio Pierce Pounds Desk In Anger After Raiders Loses Another Player To The Injury List Due to…
The NFL offseason is finally over. Training camp and the preseason are well behind us now, and the new year’s official kickoff is just a few days away. With that in mind, Bleacher Report’s NFL staff recently released their final edition of power rankings before the season officially begins. When it came to the Las Vegas Raiders, things weren’t too positive.
The Raiders came in 26th on the rankings. Unsurprisingly, most of the analysis B/R provided was in relation to the quarterback position. They mention some words from Raiders’ insider Maurice Moton, regarding Minshew: “Minshew didn’t have key players in the huddle either, but he struggled with his accuracy and ball placement against reserves in mostly basic defensive schemes,” said Moton. “Minshew will take the Raiders on a rollercoaster of highs and lows, but the coaching staff may want to get off this ride midway through the season.” Minshew is a bit of an unknown heading into the 2024 season, and Moton’s description of his highs and lows are relative to his career as a whole. Minshew struggled with the Jacksonville Jaguars early in his career, but nearly led the Indianapolis Colts to the playoffs as a backup in 2023.
However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom regarding the journeyman quarterback’s outlook. Since head coach Antonio Pierce named him the starter during the preseason, Pierce noted that he’s become more of a leader in the locker room. “He stays late, and he’s done a lot of things without a lot of hype and things that we talk about throughout the building that’s starting to show up a little bit,” Pierce said. “And I think our team is really taking notice of that.” If the team is rallying around Minshew, that’s excellent news for the Raiders in 2024. If Minshew can play mistake-free football and help the Raiders win some games to start the year, that momentum will only grow stronger.
It takes a team effort to contend when most don’t expect you to. That’s something the Raiders are up against this season, and they’ll have to work hard to prove their doubters, with B/R being a prime example, wrong.