It is Ridder time.
Sometimes, there is a place for cliché. This game is one of them.
The NFL, at its core, is really simple. Games are broke up into moments and the better teams win.
This was the case on Sunday night in Allegiant Stadium.
For the majority of the game, the Las Vegas Raiders defense kept the team in the game with a really strong performance. From the off, the Raiders brought pressure with mixed success.
They only had one sack, but with multiple tackles for loss they regularly forced Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix out of the pocket.
Even down seven – with under four minutes to go – the defence got the ball back to Gardner Minshew and the offense with the chance to go and tie the game.
They also had an opportunity before the final Broncos field goal, where a tipped pass was up for grabs and could have been picked. Again, moments.
Where did it go wrong?
Ultimately, despite Brock Bowers setting the Raiders’ rookie reception records and Jakobi Meyers going over 120 receiving yards, the offense is just not good enough.
I have said before, the lack of rushing ability in the team is such a detriment to everything else on the offensive side of the ball.
Minshew – as plucky and fun is he is – should not be throwing the ball 42 times a game. He would have hit 50 attempts had he not been injured.
Minshew is a spot starter. He is even a regular starter if he gets hot and has everything around him functioning.
But you simply should not be putting him in this position and expecting success.
Should it be Shedeur Sanders?
At this point, the season is over and frankly it has been for weeks. Now it is about planning for the next rebuild for the Silver and Black.
We can fully expect to flip-flop between Aidan O’Connell and Desmond Ridder until the end of the season, at which point Las Vegas should firmly be in the top five picks of the 2025 draft.
The fun begins here. In the offseason, pre-draft where hope springs eternal for every NFL franchise.
For everyone in the desert, this is a chance to finally get that franchise changing quarterback. Shedeur Sanders anyone?
