Aidan O’Connell assumed the starting quarterback role for the Las Vegas Raiders midway through the season after free agent Jimmy Garoppolo didn’t take off the way the team had hoped.O’Connell is a fan favorite this year thanks to his impressive preseason performance.
O’Connell had a poor rookie campaign and talked about it before the Raiders’ season finale. “There’s been good and bad in this period,” O’Connell said, via Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal . “I think we were disappointed that we didn’t win more games. “I think what hurts the most is not winning a game that we thought we could win.”
O’Connell made 9 starts this season and recorded 4 wins and 5 losses. Four of the five losses were by one hit or less. Two of those were three-point losses, including a 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 14.“We’ve been involved in every game so it’s disappointing not to win some of our games, including the last one. “So it’s kind of scar tissue that hurts,” O’Connell added.
“Obviously I had a good win, but I think I’m most worried about not taking chances in the late races and things like that.”The 25-year-old, who played college football at Purdue, was selected by Las Vegas in the fourth round of the NFL draft last spring. He completed 61.9 percent of his passes, threw for 1,974 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions and had an 81.3 passer rating in his rookie season. O’Connell believes the hard work he went through in his first season will help him grow.
“I think it’s very useful to learn from experience, sometimes even from failure,” says O’Connell. “So you fail and you learn and you try not to make the same mistake twice.”Aidan O’Connell and the Raiders are 7-9 and close out their regular season next Sunday when they host the Denver Broncos.
