Trending toward Week 9 start

The Raiders are "leaning toward" having O'Connell start Sunday's game against the Giants, a source tells Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Bonsignore's report was published just over an hour after the Raiders fired head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager David Ziegler earlier Wednesday. Interim head coach Antonio Pierce will likely meet with the media later Wednesday to clarify the Raiders' plans at quarterback moving forward, but with Las Vegas sitting on a 3-5 record and not shaping up as a playoff contender, the team may be inclined to evaluate the rookie O'Connell rather than sticking with struggling veteran Jimmy Garoppolo as the team's starter. O'Connell previously drew a start in place of a concussed Garoppolo in Week 4 against the Chargers and also relieved Brian Hoyer for the second half of a Week 7 loss to the Bears. Between those two contests, O'Connell completed 34 of 52 pass attempts (65.4 percent) for 313 yards (6.0 yards per attempt), one touchdown and two interceptions. He also added a score on the ground.