The loss shows that O’Connell should have started the season as the Raiders’ starter.

The Las Vegas Raiders held a competition this offseason to determine who would be their starting quarterback for this season. After second-year quarterback Aidan O’Connell led the Raiders to a 5-4 record as the team started in the final half of last season.

The Raiders signed veteran quarterback Gardner Minshew II to compete with O’Connell for the starting job. However, midway through the preseason, neither quarterback had done enough to separate themselves in the competition.

Minshew would be named the starting quarterback shortly before the start of the season. This was done even though O’Connell arguably looked better during the preseason, except for throwing a reckless interception that was returned for a touchdown in his preseason appearance against the Dallas Cowboys.

The Raiders had multiple legitimate reasons for naming Minshew the starter. Minshew’s contract, O’Connell’s preseason interception, Minshew’s experience and the fact that the Raiders were implementing a new offense were quality reasons to start Minshew.

Las Vegas faced some formidable defenses to start the season and did so behind an offensive line with multiple new linemen. The Raiders had plenty of reasons to start Minshew, but training camp and preseason performance weren’t among them, as O’Connell looked better during both.

While O’Connell certainly would have struggled behind the Raiders’ starting offensive line and under former offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, he showed tremendous growth during the preseason and likely would have continued to gradually grow over time as the team’s starter.