Raiders QB Aidan O'Connell Finished Sunday with Top QBR

Raiders rookie quarterback Aidan O'Connell finished Sunday with the highest QBR of all quarterbacks. His growth as a professional quarterback continues.

The Las Vegas Raiders jumped out to an early lead on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. Although they were unable to hold onto the lead, they were able to get even more of an idea of the type of quarterback they have in rookie Aidan O'Connell.

O'Connell, who finished with 248 passing yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions, ended the game with the highest quarterback rating on Sunday in the National Football League.

The rookie quarterback explained the importance of him and the offense keeping momentum on their side during games.

"You've got to sustain," O'Connell said. "You've got to continue your intensity, especially against a really good team that's won a lot of games and won a lot of games where they had to come from behind. It's our responsibility -- every drive, to lock-in, every play to lock-in, and try to do our job.

"You can't worry about what's on the other side of the ball, the same as the defense can't worry about what we're doing. We have to worry about our individual jobs and try to do as best we can to help the team."

The Raiders converted on five of their seven third-down attempts in the first half against Kansas City, but only on two of their seven in the second half. Their lack of success on third down in the second half hurt the flow of the offense.

O'Connell stressed what third downs mean to an offense's flow.

"Yeah, I think it's just converting on third downs," O'Connell said. "Like I said, when they have long drives, we have to do a good job of keeping our defense off the field, sustaining drives, and getting ahead of the sticks, and staying ahead of the sticks.

ESPN QBRs from Week 12 (Sunday):

📈 TOP 5:
1. #Raiders Aidan O’Connell, 90.4
2. #Broncos Russell Wilson, 89.2
3. #Rams Matthew Stafford, 85.3
4. #Bills Josh Allen, 83.1
5. #Chiefs Patrick Mahomes, 80.3

📉 BOTTOM 5:
20. #Saints Derek Carr, 25.1
21. #Bengals Jake Browning, 22.6… pic.twitter.com/ZwMa12v2tB

— uSTADIUM (@uSTADIUM) November 27, 2023

"So, it's a combination of a lot of different things. You have to be able to run the ball, pass the ball, and execute. Like we continue to talk about, there's a level of sustaining that we have to get better at, and we have to implement during practice and try to do a good job of continuing to focus.

"I thought our offensive line did an awesome job. [Kansas City] throws a lot of different things at you, and they continued that throughout the game. They threw new looks, looks we've seen, looks we haven't seen. And so, like I said, kudos to our offensive line for playing really hard and keeping me upright and for our guys around me playing really well." 

O'Connell's successful outing was truly a total team effort, as the offense committed no turnovers. Josh Jacobs rushed for more than 100 yards and the offense even jumped out to an early 14-0 lead over the Chiefs. 

The result wasn't what the Raiders' had hoped for, but O'Connell's potential is becoming clearer by the game.

The Silver and Black will return home to Allegiant Stadium to take on the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, December 10, at 4:05 p.m. EST/1:05 p.m. PST.

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