Why the Raiders' Continued Roster Evaluation Will Lead to Results

That is th case with Aidan O'Connell who has recently had to work through a few growing pains this offseason, as he enters his third season in the league, with his third head coach. Following training camp, Pete Carroll noted how he and his coaching staff turned up the heat on O'Connell.

However, that heat is a teaching tool to help O'Connell improve.

"Well, what we did today is we turned the clock down on him. We started the clock a lot shorter. And so it just made it really hard on him, and we're just trying to make it as difficult as possible, turn the noise up, and all of that. So he got a little frustrated, but I told him we'll slow the clock down because it was kind of unrealistic," Caroll said.

"We gave him an 18-second clock, so it made a difference. But yeah, he's really feisty, and he cares a whole lot that he's serving everybody properly. And everybody's relying on him to make the call and get us going and all that. And so the fact that he takes pride in that, and it pisses him off sometimes, ain't nothing wrong with that."

Aidan O'Connell

O'Connell has had his ups and downs in various roles with the Raiders. After unexpectedly being thrust into the starting position in the second half of his rookie season, O'Connell lost the quarterback competition between him and Gardner Minshew at the start of last season.

The third-year quarterback is once again the Raiders' backup quarterback, after the addition of Geno Smith. It gives O'Connell a chance to continue growing into a more competent quarterback. Following the camp, O'Connell noted that he must eliminate the deadly mistake he often seems to make.

He has been a serviceable quarterback, considering the non-advantageous situations he has consistently been put in, at no fault of his own. Still, O'Connell knows he must improve.

"Yeah, I thought the first game was honestly two ones that I wish I could have back and felt just down about and felt like I put a team in a bad position. This last one was tough. I was trying to throw the ball with anticipation, and the guy made a good play and obviously had a good sense of what route we were running," O'Connell said.

"And so at all junctures it's my job to take care of the ball and not put our defense in a bad spot, and to continue to move the offense. Especially in that situation where this past weekend in the red zone, and with a good field goal kicker, and Daniel [Carlson] hopefully have points on the board. So just trying to, yeah, like you said, take care of the ball. It's ultimately my responsibility. It comes in in different waves about when an interception happens, why it happens, but got to do a better job of that."

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