The Las Vegas Raiders have a legitimate shot of beating the Atlanta Falcons. However, one significant issue stands in the way.
The Las Vegas Raiders will face an Atlanta Falcons team that has lost four games in a row and a quarterback in Kirk Cousins who has not thrown a touchdown in the last five games.
Cousins has also thrown eight interceptions over the same time frame. The Falcons are a beatable team, especially with Raiders quarterback Desmond Ridder thrown into the fold of Monday night’s primetime matchup.
However, Coral Smith of NFL.com recently listed Ridder and the Raiders’ quarterback situation as arguably the most pressing issue heading into Monday.
“Injuries haven’t been kind to the Raiders this season, with the latest blow coming in the form of Maxx Crosby’s season-ending ankle surgery,” Smith said. “And there’s another injury storyline that bears monitoring with Monday’s game approaching, as the Raiders could have to send out their third starting quarterback of the season. Aidan O’Connell is the latest QB to deal with injury after suffering a bone bruise in his knee during last week’s game.
The injury initially appeared significantly more serious, but even still, O’Connell has missed all three practices this week and is questionable to play,” Smith said. “O’Connell’s season has been up and down, taking over after Gardner Minshew’s benching, then injuring his thumb, and then returning to his QB1 role for the last two games, though he holds an 0-4 record in his starts. It’s looking less and less likely his injury will allow him to play this week, but if he does, it’ll give him aneeded chance to lead his team to a victory.
“But if he isn’t able to go, it’ll be Desmond Ridder at the helm, with the QB coming in with personal history with the Falcons. Ridder played with Atlanta the last two years, starting 13 games in 2023. He went 6-7 with 2,836 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions and was benched multiple times by then-head coach Arthur Smith.
“He was ultimately traded to the Cardinals after Cousins’ signing, and then cut and signed by Las Vegas ahead of the regular season. Now, if O’Connell is unable to play, he could get an opportunity to show his stuff to his new team and his old one. We’ll likely have to wait until just before game time to know whether it’ll be O’Connell or Ridder taking the start, but either QB’s performance will be worth paying special attention to.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/raiders/ as REPORT: What is the Raiders’ Most Pressing Issue Heading Into MNF?.
