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Paul Gutierrez, ESPN Staff Writer
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell suffered a broken thumb to his right (throwing) hand in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
O’Connell, who was wearing a heavily wrapped splint on the thumb after the game, will undergo more tests Monday, the quarterback said following the Raiders’ 20-15 loss that dropped their record to 2-5.
“I’m hoping for some good news,” said O’Connell, who added that he suffered a similar-feeling injury in middle school.
“It just hurts and it’s throbbing, but we’ll be all right.”
It was during the Raiders’ second offensive series of the day when, on second-and-10, O’Connell attempted a deep pass to the right side and was hit on his follow-through by Rams safety Kamren Curl. With no receiver in the vicinity, O’Connell was flagged for intentional grounding.
One play later, on third-and-21, O’Connell hit receiver DJ Turner for a 10-yard pickup. It would be O’Connell’s last play of the game.
“I threw it and it didn’t feel great,” he said. “I tried to tough it out but, yeah, it does not feel great.”
O’Connell, who replaced Gardner Minshew as the starter last week, completed 6 of 10 passes for 52 yards against the Rams. Per ESPN Research, he was pressured on five of his 10 dropbacks (50%) and was 2-of-5 for 19 yards when pressured.
“Super unfortunate,” O’Connell said of the timing of the injury. “I was really looking forward to today and this opportunity, and so for it to be cut short like that was definitely hard.”
Minshew, who was benched in favor of O’Connell last week, replaced O’Connell.
And with the Raiders having no emergency third quarterback on the roster — receiver Jakobi Meyers was designated as such but missed his second consecutive game with an ankle injury — O’Connell remained questionable to return in case Minshew went down.
Minshew, signed to a two-year free agent contract with $15 million guaranteed, won a tight training camp battle with O’Connell. Minshew completed a career-high 70.7% of his passes for 1,014 yards and four touchdowns in five starts but was also picked off five times in those games.
In his last game before getting benched, Minshew threw a 100-yard pick-six against the Denver Broncos in Week 5, turning a potential 17-3 Raiders lead into a 10-10 game in an eventual 34-18 loss. Minshew had a career-low 40.2 QBR at the time of his benching.
Against the Rams on Sunday, Minshew was responsible for four turnovers — three interceptions and a fumble that was recovered by Curl and returned 33 yards for a touchdown — and was 15-of-34 for 154 yards and a career-low single-game passer rating of 21.0.
Asked if his turnovers were a protection issue — the Rams pressured O’Connell and Minshew on 47% of their dropbacks through three quarters, per ESPN Research — Minshew shook his head.
“That’s on me, man, that’s unacceptable to have that many turnovers,” Minshew said. “I’ve got to be smarter with the ball. To have a game where we lose by five points and have four turnovers? That’s critical. And it’s not fair to the rest of the team.
“So, I’m going to go back, look at the film, I’m not going to sulk, I’m not going to pout, but whatever we’ve got to do to fix it, I’m going to do it.”
It was the third straight game the Raiders had three turnovers, tied for their longest such streak in the past 15 seasons (Las Vegas did it most recently last season in Weeks 2-4).
“Penalties and turnovers,” Raiders coach Antonio Pierce lamented of his team, which was also flagged 10 times for 80 yards, including a momentum-killing false start on fourth-and-goal at the Rams’ 4-yard line that prompted Pierce to kick a field goal when trailing by eight points late. “Sound like a broken record.”
Minshew, meanwhile, has thrown eight interceptions this season and fumbled three times, losing two of them. His 10 turnovers are tied for the NFL lead with Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis.
“I’ve never turned a ball over like this in my life,” Minshew said. “It is very frustrating. So, just got to keep looking at it, keep studying, keep training, [have] good habits and we’re going to find our way out of this.
“A little bit of it’s being aggressive with the ball. A few of them have been just bad ball placement, like the one to DJ [Turner] today, just missed behind him. So, a combination of things, so got to look at it, address it and move on.”
With O’Connell expected to miss time, the only other quarterback under contract with the Raiders is undrafted rookie Carter Bradley, who is on the practice squad and has yet to make his NFL debut. The Raiders also had veteran Nathan Peterman on their training camp roster for two weeks, but he is now on the Atlanta Falcons‘ practice squad.