Las Vegas Raiders vs Chargers 2023 Week 4: Offense Review

Las Vegas Raiders passing game

After three weeks of Jimmy Garoppolo, this would be the first start of fourth-round pick Aidan O’Connell’s career. A fourth-rounder, not much was expected from the rookie but it is certainly a good time to see what they have and overall, it was pretty good.

By far the biggest criticism of the young quarterback's game at this point is his pocket presence and awareness. Simply, he cannot hold the ball for as long as he was and have success in the league. 

Taking seven sacks and fumbling three times, losing two, is not a winning formula and much of these were directly his fault as he seemingly had no idea Khalil Mack was still on the field. If Bosa had played it could have been a nightmare. 

Despite this, O’Connell finished 24/39 for 238 yards and never seemed to be overwhelmed by the moment or NFL speed. If anything, he might have been a bit too confident as he continued to give his receivers chances down the field in nearly triple coverage. Regardless, that level of aggression will be appreciated by Raider Nation after watching “Jimmy G” for three weeks. 

Often relying on checkdowns to Jacobs, he was his leading receiver with 81 yards. Behind him was Davante Adams who missed some time in this one with an arm injury but still posted 75 receiving yards and looks practically unguardable. 

Overall, this was not a perfect game by any means and the interception at the end to seal it proves that. For some reason Josh McDaniels is committed to making that rub route to Meyers work, he called it the drive before and on fourth down in Denver and it didn’t work either time, and the play is just not any good. 

Unfortunately, McDaniels has maintained that this is Garoppolo's offense going forward and he will be the starter when healthy. This team did not look much different with O’Connell under center and has nearly nothing to lose by letting the kid play.