Just to be clear, the Raiders defense is still lightyears ahead of the offense. That being said, the offense had its best day Wednesday, which was a welcome sight considering how poorly its looked this offseason and through the first five practices.
Tuesday’s practice ended with Gardner Minshew having the only decent looking drive of the day. It would appear that spike in the offensive play earned him some run with the first team on Thursday and there may have been some momentum that carried over.
It wasn’t a complete changeout from Aidan O’Connell to Minshew. The two quarterbacks switched off from session to session. But prior to today, O’Connell was consistently getting the majority of the first team reps.
Minshew didn’t light up the joint, but he looked probably the most poised and in control of the offense we’ve seen from him. He made some nice throws in rhythm from the pocket and outside of it. That is some improvement to be sure.
Even though the players on defense want their offense to be formidable, that doesn’t mean they are celebrating any of the small victories the offense had on the day.
“Of course you want your offensive guys to win, but when you’re out there, it’s all about winning your side, so that’s kind of my approach and my mentality,” said Tre’von Moehrig.
“For defense that’s how we talk. We want to win everything we [can]. But at the same it is good to see the offense do their thing because we all are Raiders.”
Moehrig seemed to have a good day personally. He had one play where he jumped on a route by Brock Bowers on a pass form O’Connell and swatted it down for an incompletion.
O’Connell wasn’t without some wins of his own. He had probably the best pass of the day on a deep route by DJ Turner.
It’s passes like that which continue to make O’Connell intriguing because you don’t Minshew make many throws like that. But O’Connell will need to do a lot more than the occasional eye-popping throw if he wants to hold of Minshew.
The Raiders have Thursday off and are back on Friday. It will be interesting how today’s performance effects the reps when they return on Friday.
