Source: Raiders QB Aidan O'Connell broke his thumb

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Aidan O'Connell suffered a broken thumb on his right (throwing) hand in the first quarter of Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Rams, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

O'Connell, who wore a heavily wrapped thumb splint after the game, will undergo further testing Monday, the quarterback said after the Raiders' 20-15 loss that dropped their record to 2-5.

“I'm hoping for good news,” O'Connell said, adding that he suffered a similar injury in middle school.

“It just hurts and throbs, but we’ll be fine.”

It was during the Raiders' second offensive series of the day when O'Connell attempted a deep pass to the right side on second-and-10 and was hit by Rams safety Kamren Curl on his follow-through. With no receiver nearby, O'Connell was cited for intentional landing.

One play later, on third-and-21, O'Connell hit receiver DJ Turner for a 10-yard pickup. It would be O'Connell's last play of the game.

“I threw it and it didn’t feel good,” he said. “I tried to stick it out, but yeah, it doesn’t feel great.”

O'Connell, who replaced Gardner Minshew as the starter last week, completed 6 of 10 passes for 52 yards against the Rams. According to ESPN Research, he was pressured on five of his 10 dropbacks (50%) and was 2 of 5 for 19 yards when pressured.

“Super unfortunate,” O’Connell said of the timing of the injury. “I was really looking forward to today and this opportunity, so it was definitely hard for it to be cut short like that.”

Minshew, who was substituted for O'Connell last week, replaced O'Connell.

And since the Raiders don't have a third emergency quarterback on the roster – receiver Jakobi Meyers was designated as one, but missed his second straight game with an ankle injury – O'Connell's return in the event of Minshew's absence remained questionable.

Minshew, who signed a two-year free agent contract with $15 million guaranteed, won a tough training camp battle with O'Connell. Minshew completed a career-high 70.7% of his passes for 1,014 yards and four touchdowns in five starts, but was also picked off five times in those games.

In his final game before being benched, Minshew threw a 100-yard pick-six against the Denver Broncos in Week 5, turning a potential 17-3 Raiders lead into a 10-10 game an eventual 34:18 defeat. Minshew had a career-low 40.2 QBR at the time of his benching.

Against the Rams on Sunday, Minshew was responsible for four turnovers – three interceptions and a fumble that was recovered by Curl and returned 33 yards for a touchdown – and was 15 of 34 for 154 yards and a career-low. Game passer rating of 21.0.

When asked if his turnovers were a protection issue – according to ESPN Research, the Rams pressured O'Connell and Minshew on 47% of their dropbacks through three quarters – Minshew shook his head.

“That’s on me, man, it’s unacceptable to have that many turnovers,” Minshew said. “I have to be smarter with the ball. To have a game where we lose five points and have four turnovers? This is crucial. And it’s not fair to the rest of the team.”

“So, I'm going to go back, watch the movie, I'm not going to pout, I'm not going to pout, but whatever we need to do to fix this, I'm going to do it.”

It was the third straight game in which the Raiders had three turnovers, marking the longest such streak in the past 15 seasons (Las Vegas last accomplished this in Weeks 2-4 last season).

“Penalties and turnovers,” Raiders coach Antonio Pierce lamented of his team, which was also passed over 10 times for 80 yards, including a momentum-killing false start on fourth-and-goal at the Rams' 4-yard line that prompted Pierce to throw one Shoot a field goal when trailing by eight points late. “Sounds like a broken record.”

Minshew, meanwhile, has thrown eight interceptions and fumbled three times this season, losing two of them. His 10 turnovers are tied for the NFL lead with Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis.

“I’ve never turned a ball over like that in my life,” Minshew said. “It's very frustrating. So we just have to keep looking at it, keep learning, keep training, have good habits and we will find a way out.”

“It's a little bit about being aggressive with the ball. A few of them were just poor ball placement, like DJ (Turner)'s today, which narrowly missed it behind him. So a combination of things, I need to look at it, address it and move on.

With O'Connell expected to miss time, the only other quarterback under contract with the Raiders is undrafted rookie Carter Bradley, who is on the practice squad and has yet to make his NFL debut. The Raiders also had veteran Nathan Peterman on their training camp roster for two weeks, but he is now on the Atlanta Falcons practice squad.