Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell didn’t achieve a whole lot during his team’s Christmas Day win over the Kansas City Chiefs, but he was perfectly fine to simply be a part of a win.
After the game, O’Connell was very honest about his performance and was grateful that his teammates picked him up.
“One hundred percent. That is why it is a team sport and why you love playing,” O’Connell said, via Vinny Bonsignore of The Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Obviously, I can’t say enough about our defense and our offensive line and running backs, even the receivers blocking down the field. It was a team win, and those guys carried me.”
O’Connell went just 9-for-21 with 62 yards. On the plus side, he didn’t turn the ball over, and that was all the Raiders needed to scoop up a big road win.
The rookie signal-caller said he was content just being a game manager.
“You want to be aggressive, but at the same time, you need to understand the flow of the game,” added O’Connell. “Good teams can win different types of games. Obviously, we want to score a lot of points offensively, but our defense did such a good job.”
In nine games and eight starts this season, O’Connell has thrown for 1,675 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 61.5 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 78.7.
The 25-year-old, who played his collegiate football at Purdue, was selected by Las Vegas in the fourth round of the NFL Draft back in the spring.
O’Connell created some buzz for an impressive effort in preseason, but Jimmy Garoppolo entered the year as the Raiders’ quarterback.
However, things with Garoppolo did not exactly work out, clearing the way for Aidan O’Connell to step in under center midway through the campaign.
Las Vegas is now 7-8 and will battle the Indianapolis Colts in a pivotal matchup with playoff implications next weekend. It will then take on the Denver Broncos to wrap up the regular season on Jan. 7.
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