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Paul Gutierrez, ESPN Staff Writer
HENDERSON, Nev. — Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell “should be good to go” and start Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said Friday.
This after O’Connell was carted off the field while wearing an air cast on his left leg on Dec. 8 at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and missing Monday night’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
He has practiced in a full capacity this week.
“It felt great,” O’Connell said earlier this week. “Yeah, it felt really good. It’s always fun just being out there with the guys again and, yeah, the body felt great.”
O’Connell lost a training camp battle to free agent signee Gardner Minshew but took over for an ineffective Minshew in Week 6.
A broken thumb on his right (passing) hand suffered in his second start sidelined O’Connell for four games before he again replaced Minshew, who suffered a season-ending broken collarbone on Nov. 24.
O’Connell then suffered the knee injury at Tampa Bay and was replaced by Desmond Ridder against the Falcons.
“I definitely have watched a lot more than I wanted to this year, from the sideline or from wherever, and so it’s definitely been frustrating not being on the field,” said O’Connell, who has started four of the six games in which he’s played this season. “I think I learned a lot in high school and in college, both having to kind of sit on the bench for a while and wait my turn. [That] definitely taught me patience.
“But at the same time, I think I know what it’s like to have to work and when you’re not out there and maybe not be able to see the progress day by day, but [I] just kind of have to trust the process.”
O’Connell, who started 10 games for the Raiders as a rookie, has passed for 899 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions while completing 63.2% of his passes.
“If you just live game by game, I think that’s a dangerous place to be and so I’m definitely going to focus and make it a one-game season,” he said. “But there’s a lot of football to be played, I hope, in the rest of my career.
“So I’m just taking the opportunity as it is and, I think, when you put too much pressure on yourself, you put yourself in a bad position. So I’m just going to lock in and focus on this week and whatever’s to come after that, I’ll worry about it later.”
The Raiders, who have lost 10 straight games, are tied with the New York Giants for the worst record in the league at 2-12, while the Jaguars are 3-11.