Right after the fourth quarter began in Week 2, the Las Vegas Raiders were down by 10 to the Baltimore Ravens and, if you're a fan of the silver and black, it probably wasn't difficult to see this one ending in a loss.
After all, they were on the road and against an angry Baltimore Ravens team who had just lost in Week 1. This Ravens team is arguably the best defense in the league, or it was supposed to be coming into the season.
Yet, quarterback Gardner Minshew stood tall and kept swinging, getting the ball to his playmakers and leading three-straight scoring drives in order to complete the comeback victory. With under four minutes to go, Minshew hit All Pro wide receiver Davante Adams for the game-tying score, making it 23-23.
Ultimately, the Raiders were able to hold strong defensively and of course would go on to kick a game-winning field goal later on. Now standing at 1-1, the Raiders are feeling mighty fine.
As for the man who caught the ever-important game-tying touchdown pass from Minshew?
He liked what he saw from the veteran quarterback. After the game, NFL Network's Steve Wyche caught up with Adams and asked him about a few different things, but one of them was how his quarterback was able to shake off a slow start and remain calm, competitive and help lead them to a win.
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Raiders WR Davante Adams had a huge second half and caught the game-tying touchdown in Las Vegas’s win over the Ravens. He spoke on his team’s 10-point rally to pull to 1-1. pic.twitter.com/2Q1wkOsM5U
— Steve Wyche (@wyche89) September 15, 2024
"That's what it's about, man. It's never going to be easy ... so for him to rally after a slow start, I mean that shows a lot of character. So that's promising for the rest of the year," Adams said.
Adams also went on to say how he thinks his team's defense is one heck of a unit saying, "The defense is fire, man. They're fire."
In case you're not up on today's slang, that's high praise.
Gardner Minshew has been exactly what the Raiders should have expected so far
Through two starts for the 1-1 Raiders, Minshew has essentially been what fans should have expected out of him.
The veteran has gone 55-of-71 (77.4 percent completion) with 533 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He has also been sacked nine times. But, his rating remains in the 90's and has stayed there for both games (95.1 and 94.7). He's been serviceable, which is precisely what was expected out of him.
Minshew isn't likely going to be the reason Vegas wins on every occasion, but he's going to be good enough and efficient enough to keep them competitive. So, the fact that Adams sees "promise" in Minshew after a couple of games seems to suggest this team no longer has a controversy at the position.
For this team, right now, Minshew is the guy for the job. It appears as though head coach Antonio Pierce made the right call, for now.