Aidan O’Connell suffers potential broken thumb in brutal Raiders blow

Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell suffered what appeared to be a broken thumb during Sunday’s loss to the Rams. 

The injury occurred to his right hand, which is his throwing hand, and he will undergo more testing on Monday to figure out how long the Raiders will be without the second-year signal caller, according to ESPN. 

O’Connell injured his thumb during a first quarter pass attempt when his outstretched hand hit Rams safety Kam Curl, who was charging toward him to try to break up the play at SoFi Stadium. 

Gardner Minshew, who O’Connell had only recently taken over the starting job for, entered the game in his place and finished with 15 completions for 154 yards and three interceptions. 

Prior to the injury, O’Connell had completed 6 of 10 passes for 52 yards against the Rams and the game was still scoreless at the time. 

This year has been a tough one for the Raiders, who just recently shipped away star wide receiver Davante Adams and who have had the losses piling up. 

O’Connell had just been promoted to the starter and has had success when he’s been in games. 

While Minshew was anointed the starter out of camp, O’Connell helped lead the Raiders to wins in three of his final four starts last season and is oddly the last starting quarterback to defeat Patrick Mahomes and the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. 

He also had completed 27 of 40 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown in Week 6 against the Steelers. 

Minshew started the first five weeks of the season for Las Vegas and had thrown for 1,014 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions while completing 70.7 percent of his passes. 

The Raiders, who are 2-5 on the season under new head coach Antonio Pierce, will face the Chiefs next week at Allegiant Stadium.