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Have the Raiders addressed both short-term, and long-term, needs at quarterback this offseason?
When the Las Vegas Raiders saw Derek Carr depart for the NFC South this offseason, the team suddenly found themselves with a pressing need at quarterback. The organization signed veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in free agency, giving them perhaps the ideal short-term option. Garoppolo spent three years with head coach Josh McDaniels when the two were with the New England Patriots, and has an intimate knowledge of McDaniels’ system.
But did the Raiders also find their long-term answer at the position this offseason?
If two preseason games are any indication, they might have. While the team also added Brian Hoyer, another veteran quarterback with experience in McDaniels’ offense, as a backup behind Garoppolo the Raiders also drafted Aidan O’Connell out of Purdue in the fourth round.
Over a pair of preseason games O’Connell has completed 26 of 36 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns, without throwing an interception. Against the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday O’Connell was 11 of 18 for 163 yards and a pair of scores, and showed a number of impressive traits, while exhibiting confidence in McDaniels’ offense.
Take his first touchdown on the night, which came on a third-down situation in the red zone. The Raiders align in a 3×1 formation, putting three receivers to the left side of the formation, and the two inside receivers run a pair of post routes. O’Connell can work this frontside double-post concept, but instead he comes to the fade route from Cam Sims on the backside.
O’Connell puts this ball in a perfect spot for Sims, and the Raiders are on the board:
On this next play, the Raiders again line up in a 3×1 formation, this time putting the trips to the right side of the formation. O’Connell has a pair of dig routes to choose from on that side of the field, and after the snap that is where his eyes go initially. However, the rookie QB then brings his eyes backside — while climbing the pocket to navigate some pressure — and makes an impressive anticipation throw on the deep comeback route to fellow rookie Tre Tucker:
Early in the fourth quarter the Raiders faced another third-down situation, this time in the red zone. McDaniels dials up a mirrored route concept, with a “seven-stop” route to each side of the field as a deep read, with routes to the flat giving O’Connell short options on both sides. Veteran WR Keelan Cole Sr. runs the deep sit route over the football.
With the Rams in Quarter-Quarter-Half coverage, the middle of the field is open for Cole’s deep sit route. But O’Connell will need to be quick with his read and throw, as multiple defenders are lurking.
Thankfully he makes another anticipation throw, getting the football to Cole before the defenders converge:
First down, Raiders.
O’Connell’s final completion of the night came on an old McDaniels staple, the “Yankee” concept. This is a post/dig combination, and here the Raiders run it out of 22 personnel — tight end John Samuel Shenker is aligned as the fullback — with O’Connell operating under center.
O’Connell makes a reverse pivot after taking the snap before executing the run fake with running back Damien Williams. This means he has to turn his back to the defense for a split second, an act which cuts down on the time he has to read and diagnose what the Rams are doing in the secondary. O’Connell snaps his eyes back downfield to make a decision, which requires spotting the safeties.
On this route concept, the offense is in a very good position if the defense is in Cover 3, as the quarterback now simply has to read the movement of the single-high safety. If he bites on the dig route in front of him, you throw the post over his head. If he stays deep on the post route, you throw the dig route in front of him. At Wesleyan University we used a numbering system for our route concepts, and this was 866 in our playbook.
It was one of the few plays I ran well.
Here O’Connell does it like a professional and not some washed up Division 3 QB, spotting the safety lurking deep and throwing the dig route in the middle of the field for another first down:
The read — and the timing — are both very impressive. Again, O’Connell turns his back to the defense, which means that any pre-snap expectations he had regarding the coverage need to be confirmed when he gets his eyes back downfield. Before the snap the Rams had two safeties deep, so the rookie might have expected some type of Cover 2/Cover 4 coverage when he gets his eyes back downfield.
But as he is carrying out the run fake, the Rams are spinning to single-high. So he has to reset his expectations and make the right decision. Which he does, and the ball comes out after a quick hitch in the pocket.
This is the good stuff.
But we close with his first completion of the night, and for reasons similar to this play, my favorite throw of his from the game against the Rams. The Raiders align in a 2×2 formation, with O’Connell under center. As with the previous play, he’ll carry out a run fake which requires him to turn his back to the defense.
As with the previous play, the Rams show him two deep safeties before the snap, but spin to single-high after the snap.
This time O’Connell wants to hit a whip/pivot route on the left side of the field from WR Kristian Wilkerson, another former Patriot, as that is where the QB’s eyes go first. With four defensive backs deep presnap in a Quarters look, O’Connell might expect this to be wide open. But as he is carrying out the fake the Rams spin their coverage, and the slot defender breaks on Wilkerson’s route.
O’Connell immediately resets his eyes and feet, and hits Cole on the deep crosser working from right-to-left:
Again, a great example of a quarterback resetting his expectations after the defense spins on him, and making the right read with the football.
The Raiders added Garoppolo to solve their quarterback needs of the present.
But with plays like these from the rookie, it looks like the could have solved their long-term needs as well.
