Raiders report: O’Connell says thumb ‘throbbing, but we’ll be alright’
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Quarterback Aidan O’Connell offered a first-hand account of how he was feeling in the Raiders’ locker room Sunday following a 20-15 loss to the Rams.
O’Connell injured his right thumb in the first quarter and didn’t return to the game. He is expected to undergo further testing when the team gets back to Las Vegas.
“It hurts,” O’Connell said. “It’s throbbing, but we’ll be all right.”
O’Connell was injured when his thumb contacted the head of blitzing Rams safety Kamren Curl while he was still in his throwing motion.
O’Connell remained in the game and completed a short pass to wide receiver DJ Turner the next play. The Raiders then punted and athletic trainers surrounding the second-year passer on the sideline. They escorted O’Connell to the locker room after a brief consultation so he could undergo X-rays.
Neither O’Connell or the Raiders would confirm the extent of the injury pending further testing. He was replaced by veteran Gardner Minshew the rest of the game.
“We have to get back to Vegas to know for sure, but hoping for some good news,” O’Connell said. “My thumb went numb and it’s hurting. I tried to give the third-down play a shot. I threw it and it didn’t feel great. So I tried to tough it out, but just not feeling great.”
O’Connell said he had a similar injury in middle school. The timing is tough this time around, as he regained the Raiders’ starting job from Minshew just last week.
“It’s super unfortunate,” O’Connell said. “I was really looking forward to today and this opportunity, so for it to be cut short was definitely hard.”
O’Connell completed six of his 10 passes for 52 yards before being removed. The Raiders didn’t score points on either of his two drives.
Rookie keeps rising
Rookie tight end Brock Bowers keeps breaking records just about every time he takes the field.
The 13th overall pick in April’s draft hasn’t been able to appreciate what he’s been doing so far for the Raiders, however.
“I see things on Twitter and stuff, but our focus as a team is on winning games,” said Bowers, who has the third-most receptions through seven games of any rookie in NFL history. “We have to get on that track. I’d rather have wins.”
Bowers, who had a career-high 10 receptions Sunday, doesn’t have to pat himself on the back. He has teammates to do it for him.
“He’s a stud,” defensive end Maxx Crosby said. “Quiet. Confident. Just a baller. He’s already one of the better tight ends in the league, I think. Dude catches everything. Runs through tackles. Makes people miss. He’s the complete package. I love that he’s on the team.”
Coach Antonio Pierce knows what he has in Bowers. He also realizes the team needs more from everyone else.
“(Bowers is) consistently showing up when we need him,” Pierce said. “Obviously as you see, we’re trying to feature him and get him going. He’s doing the best he can and does a lot of good things for us. But obviously it can’t just be the Brock Bowers show. Because that’s not helping us win right now.”
Finding daylight
Running back Alexander Mattison had 92 rushing yards Sunday, the most by any Raiders player in a game this year.
He added three catches for another 31 yards.
“It was a good day to run the football,” Mattison said. “We were doing it really well. At some points, maybe we got away from it but we got back to it. I think we just have to continue to be on that trajectory.”
Perfect day
Kicker Daniel Carlson tied a career high with five made field goals Sunday. It was the third time in his career he hit that mark.
“The points are all important, but winning is the only thing that matters at the end of the day,” said Carlson, who credited the entire field-goal unit for executing well five times. “Protection, snap, hold. Everything has to be clean. Just doing it over and over again, a lot (of the attempts) today were short, but none of them are guaranteed and there’s lots of things that can go wrong.”
Carlson became just the 13th player in NFL history to record at least 755 points in his first 102 career games.
His last attempt Sunday may have been the most surprising. Carlson was called into action with his team trailing by eight points with 2:46 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“That’s one obviously with eight where you don’t really know because you may end up having to kick a field goal anyways if you don’t get (a two-point conversion),” Carlson said. “But I try to always act like I’m going to kick just in case. You don’t want to be chilling on the bench and have someone tell you to go in. I just assume I’m going to have to do my job.”
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.