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Paul Gutierrez, ESPN Staff Writer
HENDERSON, Nev. — Gardner Minshew will remain the Las Vegas Raiders‘ starting quarterback for the team’s home game Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, a team source confirmed Tuesday.
“Nothing was ever pondered,” the source said, regarding a potential switch.
The news was first reported by NFL Network.
This comes a day after Raiders coach Antonio Pierce was noncommittal on Minshew remaining the starter in the wake of Aidan O’Connell coming off the bench to lead Las Vegas to a late touchdown drive in its 36-22 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
When Pierce was asked Monday in his weekly news conference, which was delayed more than an hour because of meetings with his staff, whether O’Connell’s success meant anything or Minshew was still the starter, he said, “I think we’ve got to get with the players and just evaluate everything from yesterday first.”
Pierce had earlier said the Raiders were looking for a “spark” from O’Connell, who took Las Vegas on a 70-yard scoring drive in 13 plays, completing 9 of 12 passes for 82 yards and finishing with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Tre Tucker.
Minshew threw for 214 yards and completed 18 of 28 passes with a touchdown and an interception against Carolina.
Minshew, signed to a two-year free agent contract with $15 million guaranteed by Las Vegas, beat out O’Connell in a training camp battle. Pierce said at the time he wanted to give Minshew at least the first quarter of the season to get the team off to a fast start.
Through three games, Minshew has completed 73.7% of his passes (which ranks fifth in the NFL among passers with at least 70 attempts) for 747 yards (sixth in the league) with three touchdowns and three interceptions and a passer rating of 92.4 (14th among QBs with at least 70 passes).
Also Tuesday, the Raiders placed starting safety Marcus Epps on injured reserve after he suffered a noncontact injury to his left knee. Epps, who had 10 tackles Sunday and 19 on the season, was injured when he planted his left foot into the Allegiant Stadium grass pursuing Panthers receiver Diontae Johnson and crumpled to the field.
Cornerback Sam Webb was signed to the active roster from the practice squad in a corresponding move.
Source: www.espn.com