Aidan O'Connell: "I'm hoping to get there" to start Monday night

Though he exited last week's loss to the Buccaneers on a cart with a knee injury, Raiders quarterback Aidan O'Connell still has a chance to play against the Falcons on Monday night.

Head coach Antonio Pierce noted O'Connell participated in walk-through on Wednesday. O'Connell himself then spoke to reporters, saying he's doing his best to be available for the Week 15 contest.

“Yeah, I'm hoping to get there,” O’Connell said in his press conference. “Obviously, we’ve got a longer week this week, which helps, and so just really taking it day by day. Obviously, not something I've been through with this particular injury. So, trying to get there.”

Reports this week indicated O’Connell has a bone bruise in his knee, though it was initially feared to be much worse. O’Connell noted he’d tweaked his knee during the previous series, and the pain he experienced on the field was likely a culmination of things that happened.

“Yeah, it was obviously not super fun. I was in a lot of pain,” O’Connell said of being carted. “Yeah, just not a super fun experience overall, and wish it didn't come to that, wish it didn't happen that way. But it's part of the game.

“It definitely hurt on the field, of course. And then my knee wasn't responding how the doctors hoped it would. And so, yeah, you definitely fear the worst, obviously going through that. But then got some imaging done, and yeah, it seemed like it was definitely best-case scenario.”

O’Connell said he’s able to walk around and then do some movement work in the water at this point in the week. He’s trusting the training staff to get him to where he needs to be.

“I think you have to be tough in the NFL. I don't think I'm unique in that way. We’ve got a lot of tough guys. I think it's funny the quarterback gets hurt, and everyone's talking about it, but we have offensive linemen, defensive linemen, guys that are dealing with things every day, and people never talk about it. So, I think it's hard to be an NFL player, and everyone in the locker room is definitely tough."