Raiders Quickly Shifting Focus to the Chargers

The Las Vegas Raiders suffered arguably their most deflating loss of the season, 3-0 to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Rookie quarterback Aidan O'Connell struggled against one of the best defenses in the league, as the Raiders' offense could not score any points for the first time this season and only the sixth time in the last 15 years.

O'Connell gave some insight into what makes the Vikings' defense hard to play against.

“They do a lot of different things," O'Connell said. "They do a good job of rolodexing it on early downs and third down. Like I said, they make life difficult to operate in a normal fashion with different personnel, different fronts, different blitzes, different coverages.

"And so, it would have taken a lot better execution for us to be successful. And again, I put that on myself."

As has been the case most of the season, O'Connell says it all comes down to execution.

"I think it's just a lack of execution," O'Connell said. "I point to myself. I've got to do a better job of executing in the running game, in the passing game, and making sure we have a good play going when I hike the football. You can put it on me. I've got to execute better."

"I think it's just a one-game season every week. I think the opponents are difficult every week. It's the NFL. Especially now, this next week, we have a short week and we've got to turn the page pretty quickly and move on to play against the Chargers on Thursday night. I think it's just taking it one game at a time and not biting off more than we can chew, but taking it one at a time."

Despite the offense's subpar performance, O'Connell is still confident.

"I have confidence in myself to execute and do my job properly," O'Connell said. "I haven't done it well enough, so I've got to be better at doing that. But I still have full confidence in myself to do this. I'm learning every week what it takes and working extremely hard to try to put a good product on the field. I'm not doing it right now, so I have to do better."

Interim Coach Antonio Pierce is evaluating all aspects of the team after Sunday's dismal loss to the Vikings. That includes whether or not O'Connell will be the starting quarterback for the rest of the season.

The Silver and Black will turn around quickly and host their AFC West rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers, on Thursday, December 14, at 8:15 p.m. EST/5:15 p.m. PST.

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