Rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell took over as the starting quarterback of the Las Vegas Raiders midway through the season this year, replacing Jimmy Garoppolo following a midseason coaching change from Josh McDaniels to Antonio Pierce. He was one of the more productive rookie quarterbacks in the league this season, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s happy with how everything went.
During a press conference this week, Aidan O’Connell made it clear that while he is happy with the way he performed and was pleased to get a chance to play, he wishes it would have led to better results for the team.
“Throughout it, there’s been good and bad,” O’Connell said, via Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I think I’m more so just disappointed that we didn’t win more games. I think that’s what ultimately will be what hurts the most is not being able to pull out some of the games that I think we could have won.
“We’ve been in every single game, and so it’s been frustrating to not be able to go win some of those games, even coming down to the last drive. … So, that’s kind of the scar tissue that hurts. Obviously, we’ve had some good wins, but yeah, I think the lack of capitalizing on opportunities in late drives and stuff like that, I think that’s what I’m thinking about the most.”
The good news for O’Connell is that this is early in his career and he’ll have plenty more seasons to lead his team to better records.
