Jeff Christensen is private quarterbacks coach that has worked with nearly 200 college and professional quarterbacks along the way.
Among the quarterbacks that Christensen has worked with are Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, Ryan Tannehill, and Jimmy Garoppolo. He has also worked with Aidan O’Connell and he had strong words for the Raiders’ rookie gunslinger in the offseason.
“He’s a grinder,” Christensen told The Athletic’s Vic Tafur in the offseason. “He enjoys the work and he enjoys the art of seeing how accurate he can get with the ball. It’s not even football with him sometimes, it’s the art of accuracy. And he takes it very seriously.”
“Aidan is the most accurate guy I have ever coached in my life,” Christensen continued. “I just got done with nine NFL guys, and seven of them have a hard time throwing guys open. They wait until a guy starts to get open and then it is too late… He plays a lot like Brady. He moves like Brady, and his accuracy will speak for itself. If you look at them throw side by side, they are pretty much identical.“
We’ve learned since the offseason that O’Connell also has a strong arm. By far, the strongest arm in the Raiders’ quarterback room.
Sunday’s 50-yard deep connection between O’Connell and Tre Tucker was something we haven’t seen from the Raiders in a while…
And one more note from this week…
Yahoo Sports Insider Jason Fitz made an appearance on Raider Nation Radio’s Morning Tailgate, and talked about another area where O’Connell has exceeded expectations in his first NFL season.
“Coming up to the line of scrimmage, one of the most impressive things is that [O’Connell] has been able to shift protections. That is such a key,” Fitz said.
“To use an example of another quarterback, coming into the draft I was told by some people that know college football and cover the Alabama program that Bryce Young’s biggest issue was not anything physical, but he wasn’t great at figuring out how to shift protection for his offensive line. He needed to work on that. What we’ve seen this year is he gets sacked all the time. That’s a progression for a young quarterback.”
“[He made] tight window throws that were aggressive,” Fitz coninued. “He had some of those throws. I thought the accuracy was really spot on. So for me what you saw was a calm, collected quarterback come to the line of scrimmage, that was able to see what the defense was bringing him, shift protection to make sure that he felt good about it, and then be effective with the game plan. I don’t what else you can ask for from a young quarterback.”
twitter: @raidersbeat
Aidan looks like a winner. I thought that Bo was sharper in the previous game. At times, Aidan is put into situations where he is sacked by the call, not his ability. However, some of Bo’s calls have been gorgeous! The deep drop back allowed Aidan and the line the time needed. Go Aiden! Go Bo! Go Raiders!