Las Vegas Raiders QB Aidan O'Connell spoke moments ago ahead of the Silver and Black hosting the Los Angeles Chargers.
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00:00 >> And your first kind of quick turnaround for Thursday in the NFL,
00:05 what's this process been like so far?
00:07 >> Yeah, it's been a little crazy.
00:09 We've had some crazy weeks here in the last few weeks of short weeks and
00:13 Monday night games and stuff like that.
00:14 But yeah, obviously everything's accelerated.
00:18 So trying to just fit as much as you can into each day.
00:22 >> Aiden, Coach Pierce yesterday, I asked him about getting the ball down the field,
00:26 going vertical, and he talked about it.
00:27 Something he talks about, he wants.
00:30 What does this have to do?
00:31 Does it need to be called more?
00:32 Do you have to see it more?
00:33 What has to go into the Raiders being able to attack down the field?
00:36 >> Yeah, it's a good question.
00:37 I think it definitely is a combination of things.
00:40 I think when there's opportunities, and sometimes we don't get a lot during
00:44 the game, teams have played a lot of too high against us and
00:49 try to limit our opportunities down the field because I know we have good skill
00:52 players and so it's just trying to be patient, take them when they come.
00:56 But also be smart with it.
00:57 It's not unique to us, but
00:59 we're trying to find the balance of being aggressive and being smart.
01:01 >> Aiden, what do you feel like you've improved on since the first time you
01:05 played the Chargers, your first career start?
01:08 >> Yeah, I think every game I'm learning more and more about the NFL,
01:11 about what it takes to play well on any given day, any given drive, any play.
01:18 And really just trying to learn how important, as I've talked about before,
01:22 how important each play is.
01:23 And so I think my intensity to detail on each play has gotten better.
01:28 I still have a long way to go, obviously, but
01:31 trying to just execute play by play better.
01:33 >> Just thoughts on going up against Khalil Mack again,
01:36 and what makes him so difficult to slow down?
01:39 >> Yeah, obviously he's been doing it for a long time.
01:41 Really great player.
01:42 They have great players throughout the entire field.
01:45 So it's gonna be a great challenge for us.
01:46 We're gonna have to play really well, do our job well.
01:49 And it's my responsibility to make sure we can move the ball down the field as
01:54 an offense.
01:55 >> Aiden, when the team's struggling, lost three in a row,
01:58 what do you do to stay centered?
01:59 What do you do to just kinda continue to grow, but
02:02 keep peace in your heart and just keep moving along?
02:04 >> Yeah, I think try to keep football in perspective, I think, is a big thing.
02:08 I'm a guy who's gonna work as hard as possible and try to get here early and
02:12 stay late and try to do everything in my power to make sure football is
02:17 a high priority in my life.
02:18 But I think something that helps me perspective is just relying on my faith
02:22 and try to make sure it doesn't become the end of the world.
02:26 I think when you make football sometimes too much, you can get bogged down by it.
02:32 But rather just being able to work as hard as you can, at the end of the day,
02:35 still having joy with it.
02:37 >> So Andre went down in the game.
02:38 He's still nursing an injury.
02:40 What changes, what are the adjustments when you have someone different
02:43 snapping you the ball?
02:44 >> Yeah, Andre is obviously a great player for us.
02:46 A great leader.
02:46 He's been our center the entire year and has done a great job.
02:50 And so it'll be an adjustment given his status and we'll see what happens.
02:55 And we're super confident the rest of the guys.
02:58 We get reps with other guys throughout the week and
03:01 they prepare for stuff like this.
03:02 So we're not the only team obviously going through injuries and
03:04 stuff like that that happens.
03:06 >> All good?
03:08 >> Mm-hm. >> Cool.