Gardner Minshew Named The Raiders Starter AND I AM DUMBFOUNDED!

I don't, wow, I really did not expect to be making this video today. I thought this was pretty clear and obvious, and I feel like most people are on the same page, that based off of the reports we heard in training camp, which is that it was pretty even, if not Aiden had the slight edge, and based off of what we saw in these preseason games, that it was pretty obvious that Aiden was the better quarterback of the two. Not to say that Aiden played lights out. He didn't, right? But neither did Gardner. And a second year, fourth round quarterback playing as good as a veteran who's been in this league and won a lot of games, it felt pretty obvious to me that Aiden was the guy. And look, I just wanna make this up front. I'm a Raider fan. AP says Gardner's the quarterback. Gardner's my quarterback, and I'm gonna support him. I'm gonna root for him. And there's no doubt about it. Gardner Minshew won nine games last year with a Colts roster that isn't nearly as good as our roster. And he can extend plays, and he can do things that Aiden can't do. And he had some big plays in the preseason. He also had some bad plays. But if anyone claims that I'm just this optimistic guy that doesn't have his own opinions, that he just says that everything is happy and peaches and cream and roses, you're gonna love this video because I think this is a bad decision. I think this is the wrong move. And look, who am I? I'm just a guy sitting in my bedroom making videos. I don't get paid to evaluate talent. I'm not in the locker room. I don't know if the captains talked to AP. I don't know what the All-22 showed from this game. I wasn't there in practice. And maybe they think that the offensive line isn't gonna be as great as we need it to be for Aiden, so we need someone who can scramble and make plays. And like I said, as not good as Gardner was in these preseason games, he won nine games last year. Maybe when the lights are on, when it shines brightest, he steps up and he plays well. I just, I really am shocked. Like when he, when AP just said right now, Gardner's gonna be our starter in this press conference, you could tell it sucked the air right out of the Zoom meeting. They asked him like four questions. The press conference lasted six minutes because I'm pretty sure everybody was prepared to discuss Aiden winning the job. Nobody knew what to say. And it doesn't make sense to me to not start Aiden because of one interception. A bad one, nonetheless, but one. And I refuse to believe that it was just the one interception that lost him the job. But it kind of feels like that's what lost him the job because if you take him out after that last touchdown drive he led, he was clearly far and away the better quarterback. And then you leave him in for one more drive in the fourth quarter for no reason. He could only lose the job at that point. And he throws an interception and then he doesn't start. I think it's a bad move and I'm a pro AP guy and I love him and I still think he's gonna be a great coach. But I'm really having a hard time wrapping my head around this. And I can't lie to you, it's lowered my excitement for the season. Not a lot, but when he said Minshew was the starter, it didn't give me a good feeling. I just think that it's so obvious that Aiden is the more polished passer. And you know, everyone says Minshew can extend the play and he could do all this magic. It's like, okay, I've yet to really see that happen. He scrambled for like a few first downs. I don't know. I guess only time will tell. And like I said, the only thing that could make me be okay with this decision is that they think the offensive line isn't as good as it needs to be for Aiden. So they can't have somebody in there who can't extend plays. I thought it was pretty obvious. And look, I'm gonna come on here and be man enough to tell you that I guess I was wrong in predicting that Aiden would be the starter. I don't feel that I was wrong about who was the better quarterback. I've been more confident than ever and I still feel this way that from what I've seen and heard that Aiden was the better of the two options. And I don't know how you can argue that based on the film. Now you could argue that I was wrong about who's the starter because AP came out and said it's Gardner. I don't know. You know, it just happened. So it's raw and fresh in my mind. And we're talking about it in the Discord right now. If you're not in the Discord, hop in there. The link is in the description. It's completely free. And I was just about to record my win-loss video. I got to reevaluate it a little bit. I still think we can win a lot of games with Gardner, but I wasn't really sold on him from what I saw in this preseason. It just felt like a lot of Jimmy Garoppolo. I didn't want to do that again. I wanted somebody who was just going to stand in the pocket and make the right read. Now, like I said, if the guys are running wide open, it might not matter. It's just, I don't know. I think it's the wrong move. I don't know what else you want me to say. I think it's the wrong move. I hope I'm proven wrong and I hope this becomes this Rich Gannon type story where Gardner comes in. Look, let's talk about Gardner because he's the starter. Enough about Aiden. I'm not talking about backups anymore. Whether or not I believe they actually should be backups. And by the way, this doesn't write Aiden off to be the guy here. He could learn under Gardner and maybe take over next year. Or if Gardner, if we make the playoffs and Gardner, we run it back. And by the way, I wanted to avoid this. I wanted to avoid all of this and go back to a video that I made. I don't know. I don't know when that was. March, April, before free agency. When I said, maybe we should sign Kirk Cousins because Kirk Cousins with this roster is automatic 10 wins at least. And let Aiden or whoever we draft learn under him. And guess what? The Falcons thought the same exact way. They signed Kirk Cousins and then drafted Penix to learn under Kirk Cousins for two years. That's exactly what I said. And if you go to the comments of that video, I got roasted for suggesting that we break the bank for Kirk Cousins. Roasted. How do you feel now? You happy with Gardner? Because clearly they don't think Aiden's ready. Doesn't matter what I think. They don't think Aiden's ready. And we could have had Kirk Cousins. And that's what I suggested. And everybody put me on the coal fire and roasted me and toasted me. Okay. I just want to plan for all outcomes. Same thing with Dak. I said, what about Dak next year? Everyone's like, are you crazy? All right, we're going to roll with Gardner. Let's talk about Gardner. He has never come close to having the weapons we have now. He's shown flashes of greatness, flashes of Jimmy Garoppolo-esque behavior. What it comes down to is, can he hit the open guy? And sometimes he did and sometimes he didn't. Oh my God, I can't believe I'm talking about Gardner Mitchell being the starter right now. Stay positive. He won nine games last year with the Colts roster that wasn't that impressive. They didn't have Jonathan Taylor for half the season. Their best weapon is Michael Pittman. Everybody else is not great. Our defense, no matter how good or bad our offense is, is going to have to win a lot of games this year. We know this. Antonio Pierce is, I believe in him. I believe in Tlaib Skun. I believe in Luke Etsy. So by proxy, I believe in Gardner Minshew. It's just tough for me to accept that right now. We got to wait two weeks or three weeks or however long it is to see how this goes. I'm going to still record my win-loss video. I just got to readjust a few things. I don't think we're a lock 10 win team now. I still think we could get there, but I thought we were pretty much a lock with Aiden. And look, maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm not seeing what everybody else is seeing. I think most of us are on the same page, right? One quarterback was pretty much better than the other. But right now it's Gardner Minshew's team and he's a great guy and he can make some plays. So let's see what happens. Comment below, let me know your thoughts. Join that Patreon, patreon.com slash all of our writers. You get your name at the end of credits, you get exclusive content. You get videos like this way, way, way in advance. Hit that sub button, we're trying to get to a thousand. Nope, we're trying to get to 10,000 before the new year. What else do I want to say? I don't know. I'm shocked. I don't know how you could watch the film and tell me that Gardner was better. And if we're not playing the better person, then what are we doing? But he's our quarterback, we got to support him, right? That's how it goes. That's how these things go. So everyone grow your mustaches out and grow your beards out and grow your hair out and get excited. I hope this is the right move. It doesn't feel like it, but I hope I'm wrong. I've been wrong before, clearly. So I hope I'm wrong again. Please be sure to subscribe. It's free, I throw no charges at you. I love you guys. I'll see you next time. Wow.