LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Las Vegas Raiders were back at practice coming off their bye week on Wednesday.
Sitting at 2-7 at the midway point of Antonio Pierce's first full season as head coach, the Silver and Black are searching for answers after five straight losses.
Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy was fired after the team's blowout loss to the Cincinnati Bengals and replaced with interim OC Scott Turner. Scott's father, long-time NFL coach and former Raiders head coach, Norv Turner, joined the staff as a senior adviser while Joe Philbin took over as offensive line coach.
WATCH | Raiders replace offensive coordinator & offensive line coach, add Norv Turner as a senior adviser
After practice, players told me that the team is moving on from the bumpy start to the season and are only focused on the road ahead.
“Everybody in this building and everybody in this locker room is headstrong enough to forget about the past, and focus on now and the future," cornerback Nate Hobbs told me on Wednesday.
“It’s all about energy," star defensive end Maxx Crosby said. "Coming in with the right mindset, mindset to get better, improving every single day. Energy was great, everything was on point, for a Wednesday it was a pretty good practice.”
The Raiders named Gardner Minshew the starting quarterback for Sunday's road matchup against the Miami Dolphins. The team sticks with Minshew over Desmond Ridder while Aidan O'Connell still works back from a broken thumb.
“This week I felt like Gardner gives us the best opportunity to move forward," head coach Antonio Pierce said. "He has every opportunity to go out there and get to a win.”
Minshew has thrown six touchdowns to eight interceptions this season, fumbling five times. His 12 turnovers rank second-most in the NFL.
After being benched twice, the Raiders' first-year quarterback hopes to turn the corner with tweaks being made to the offense under Turner.
“It’s been great," Minshew said. "Scott’s done a great job of making it pretty seamless. He’s done a great job communicating with us and the offense. That’s really all you can ask. I feel really good, I think everybody’s feeling really confident moving forward with what we got.”
“It was a change, a significant change," offensive tackle Kolton Miller said. "We had to switch our O-Line coach. You got to digest that and take that step forward like okay, this is what we got, we got 8 weeks, let’s make the best of it.”
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The Raiders offense gets help in the form of tight end Michael Mayer returning to the team after missing six games due to a personal matter. Mayer had not played since Sept. 22 and now rejoins rookie sensation Brock Bowers in the tight end room.
“Football’s not bigger than life," Mayer said. "It isn’t and it never has been at least for me. I just needed to figure some things out and that’s what I did. I’m on my feet again and I feel great. Whatever they ask me to do these 8, 9, 10 weeks, 11 weeks, I’m going to do it for them.”
The Raiders will look for a much-needed bounce-back win when they kick off at the Miami Dolphins on Sunday morning at 10 a.m.
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