Pierce not ready to name Raiders' starting QB as questions swirl

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Pierce not ready to name Raiders' starting QB as questions swirl

2024-10-08 09:17 Last Updated At：09:20

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — If Raiders coach Antonio Pierce changes quarterbacks, he likely will have to stick with Aidan O'Connell for the rest of the season.

Otherwise, what's the point?

Pierce made clear when he took over as Las Vegas' interim coach midway through last season that O'Connell was the starter the rest of the way.

He wasn't ready to be so concrete on Monday on whether sitting Gardner Minshew — the Raiders' starter the first five games — would mean a permanent change to O'Connell. Pierce didn't want to box himself in just yet, at least publicly, so he batted down any questions along those lines.

But it has to be a factor in his thinking as the Raiders (2-3) try to respond to Sunday's 34-18 loss to the Broncos. Minshew was benched at Denver after throwing two interceptions, though O'Connell didn't elevate the team's play, either, in passing for 94 yards with a pick of his own.

The last thing Pierce wants is to do is flip-flop the quarterbacks the rest of the season, so if he and the staff believe Minshew still gives the Raiders their best chance to win, they probably will remain with him.

But there's also the idea of finding out whether O'Connell has much of a future. If Pierce decides to go back to O'Connell, it largely will be with an eye on the big picture rather than trying to win week to week.

Pierce might not be there yet, hoping to salvage the season with 12 games left on the schedule.

“I’ve seen enough Aidan last year and a lot this year,” Pierce said. “I know what to expect when Aidan gets in the game.”

The real problem for the Raiders is the quarterback they need isn't on the roster. That player could still be in college or might be on another NFL roster because neither O'Connell nor Minshew has shown he is capable of making the Raiders a contender.

If Las Vegas can trade wide receiver Davante Adams for assets that will benefit the club and maybe even help land one of those quarterbacks, that's probably the Raiders' best way out of this mess.

How soon the Raiders make a deal, if they are able to pull one off, remains uncertain. Pierce called it “status quo.”

When asked where it all went wrong with Adams, Pierce said, “You’ve got to ask Davante that.”

Maxx Crosby almost any time he's on the field. After a high ankle sprain caused him to miss a game for the first time in his career, Crosby came back looking like the same pass-rush menace. He had two sacks to reach five for the season, putting him on pace to surpass his career high of 14 1/2 set last year.

Special teams usually isn't an issue, but the coverage teams didn't have their best day against the Broncos. They allowed 54 yards on two punt returns and 61 yards on two kickoff returns. One 38-yard punt return put the Broncos at the 50-yard line and helped set up a touchdown.

Tight end Brock Bowers is the Raiders’ best first-round draft pick since they selected running back Josh Jacobs in 2019. He was targeted 12 times at Denver, catching eight passes for 97 yards. That included a 57-yard touchdown on the game’s opening drive in which Bowers caught the pass over one defender and showed his athletic ability by outrunning by another.

The Raiders under Pierce have been a disciplined team that doesn't beat itself with penalties. Well, at least not until the trip to Denver, where Las Vegas committed 11 penalties for 79 yards. That was the most penalties for the Raiders since they committed 13 on Dec. 18, 2022 against New England.

DT Christian Wilkins (foot) was injured against the Broncos. Pierce had no update on Monday.

7 — Rookie quarterbacks have seven consecutive victories against the Raiders with Denver's Bo Nix adding his name to that list. Those QBs have a combined 100 rating, 10 touchdown passes and two interceptions.

The Raiders are back at home Sunday against Pittsburgh.

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Pope has a cold and will skip outdoor Sunday prayer ahead of a busy week

2024-12-21 23:56 Last Updated At：12-22 00:00

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is suffering from a cold and will deliver his Sunday blessing from indoors, the Vatican said, announcing the precautions ahead of a busy Christmas period and launch of the Holy Year that will sorely test Francis' stamina and health.

The Vatican cited the cold temperatures outside and Francis' strenuous week ahead, after a wheezing and congested-sounding pope delivered his annual Christmas greeting to Vatican bureaucrats earlier Saturday.

Francis, who turned 88 this past week, on Tuesday is due to inaugurate his big Holy Year and preside over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations in St. Peter's Basilica. On Thursday, he is scheduled to travel to Rome's main prison to inaugurate the Jubilee there.

Francis has long suffered bouts of bronchitis, especially in winter. In 2023, he ended up the hospital to receive intravenous antibiotics. He had part of one lung removed as a young man and frequently seems out of breath, especially after walking or exerting himself.

He took several minutes to catch his breath on Saturday, when he delivered his annual Christmas greetings to Vatican bureaucrats and lay employees. Once again, he used the occasion to admonish the backstabbing and gossiping among his closest collaborators and urge them instead to speak well of one another.

“A church community lives in joyful and fraternal harmony to the extent that its members walk in the life of humility, renouncing evil thinking and speaking ill of others,” Francis said. “Gossip is an evil that destroys social life, sickens people’s hearts and leads to nothing. The people say it very well: Gossip is zero.”

“Beware of this,” he added.

By now Francis’ annual Christmas address to the priests, bishops and cardinals who work in the Vatican Curia has become a lesson in humility -– and humilitation -- as Francis offers a public dressing down of some of the sins in the workplace at the headquarters of the Catholic Church.

In the most biting edition, in 2014, Francis listed the “15 ailments of the Curia,” in which he accused the prelates of using their Vatican careers to grab power and wealth. He accused them of living “hypocritical” double lives and forgetting — due to “spiritual Alzheimer’s” — that they’re supposed to be joyful men of God.

In 2022, Francis warned them that the devil lurks among them, saying it is an “elegant demon” that works in people who have a rigid, holier-than-thou way of living the Catholic faith.

This year, Francis revisited a theme he has often warned about: gossiping and speaking ill of people behind their backs. It was a reference to the sometimes toxic atmosphere in closed environments such as the Vatican or workplaces where office gossip and criticism circulate but are rarely aired in public.

Francis has long welcomed frank and open debates and even has welcomed criticism of his own work. But he has urged critics to tell it to his face, and not behind his back.

Francis opened his address Saturday with a reminder of the devastation of the war in Gaza, where he said even his patriarch had been unable to enter due to Israeli bombing.

"Yesterday children have been bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war," he said.

The annual appointment kicks off Francis’ busy Christmas schedule, this year made even more strenuous because of the start of the Vatican’s Holy Year on Christmas Eve. The Jubilee is expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome over 2025, and Francis has a dizzying calendar of events to minister to them.

After addressing the Vatican prelates, Francis issued a less critical address to the Vatican’s lay employees who gathered in the city state's main audience hall along with their families. Francis thanked them for their service and urged them to make sure they take time to play with their children and visit grandparents.

“If you have any particular problems, tell your bosses, we want to resolve them,” he added at the end. “You do this with dialogue, not by keeping quiet. Together we’ll try to resolve the difficulties.”

It was an apparent reference to reports of growing unease within the Vatican workforce that has been called out by the Association of Vatican Lay Employees, the closest thing the Vatican has to a labor union. The association has in recent months voiced alarm about the health of the Vatican pension system and fears of even more cost-cutting, and demanded the Vatican leadership listen to workers’ concerns.

Earlier this year 49 employees of the Vatican Museums — the Holy See's main source of revenue — filed a class-action lawsuit in the Vatican tribunal complaining about labor woes, overtime and working conditions.

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