An MRI on Monday morning revealed quarterback Aidan O’Connell suffered a bone bruise in his knee Sunday in the Raiders’ loss to the Buccaneers, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
That means, depending on how O’Connell’s knee responds this week, there’s a chance he can play against the Falcons on Monday.
The news was as good as the Raiders (2-11) could have hoped for. They were concerned the injury may have knocked O’Connell out for the rest of the season.
The 26-year-old was hurt in the third quarter of Sunday’s game and was carted off the field.
If O’Connell can’t recover in time to face the Falcons (6-7), backup Desmond Ridder would start against his former team.
Atlanta drafted Ridder in the third round of the 2022 draft.
“If no Aidan, it’ll be Desmond,” Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said Monday.
Ridder, 25, has completed 28 of 44 passes for 239 yards and a touchdown in four appearances this season. The only other healthy quarterback in the organization is undrafted rookie Carter Bradley, who is on the practice squad.
Garnder Minshew, who began this season as the Raiders’ starter, suffered a season-ending collarbone injury against the Broncos on Nov. 24.
The team at least has plenty of experience when it comes to getting a quarterback ready to play on short notice. O’Connell started against the Chiefs on Nov. 29 just four days after being designated to return to practice from a fractured right thumb.
“Less is more,” Pierce said. “Know who you’re dealing with at quarterback. Play into the quarterback. What are they familiar with? What are they comfortable with? What can we execute at a high level? And if we do that, we’ll put ourselves in a better position.”
McCormick continues to shine
Running back Sincere McCormick, who was on the Raiders’ practice squad most of his first three years with the club, keeps taking advantage of his opportunities.
McCormick ran for a career-high 78 yards on 15 carries Sunday. He now has 175 yards on 32 rushing attempts through three games and is averaging 5.5 yards per carry.
Pierce, who has been impressed by McCormick’s work, remembered being approached by the 25-year-old soon after he was named the Raiders’ interim coach last season.
“He asked me, ‘What do I need to do to get a bigger role? To get in a game,’ ” Pierce said.
Pierce told McCormick to attack the offseason and come back to training camp ready to play. McCormick did just that. He impressed when the Raiders started practicing.
“His name came up a lot,” Pierce said.
McCormick was still cut after the preseason but was re-signed to the practice squad. Pierce gave him a different message heading into the season.
“Just keep working the way you’ve been working,” Pierce said he told McCormick. “You never know when your name is gonna get called. And the one thing about him, he was ready.”
Bowers not used to this
Raiders rookie tight end Brock Bowers lost just two of the 45 college games he played at Georgia. The Bulldogs won two national championships during his time with the program.
Bowers has already lost 11 games in his first year as a professional. And he doesn’t like it one bit.
“It’s pretty frustrating,” Bowers said.
Bowers hopes his teammates share his frustrations.
“We just can’t get used to this,” Bowers said. “It’s not something we can get used to. Like coming in and being like, ‘It’s like this again.’ We’ve just got to keep trying to grind and figure it out.”
Contact Vincent Bonsignore at [email protected]. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.
