Jimmy Garoppolo Injury 'A Lot Better' Than It Could've Been, Raiders' McDaniels Says

Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels told reporters on Monday that the back injury that forced quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to leave Sunday's 21-17 win over the New England Patriots wasn't as bad as initially feared.

"Seems like we dodged a big bullet," he said. "Still doing a couple things this morning. The prognosis was a lot better than it might have otherwise been... good news."

Garoppolo, 31, left the stadium at halftime in an ambulance, per ESPN's Paul Gutierrez. He appeared to suffer the injury at some point during the final drive of the second quarter but remained in the game, though he looked to be in pain.

The veteran quarterback was 14-of-22 for 162 yards, a touchdown and an interception against his former team. He's thrown for 1,079 yards, seven scores and an NFL-worst eight picks in five games this season.

"It's sad whenever you see, especially a leader in the locker room, get hurt or go through injuries, but it's also part of the game, man," Raiders running back Josh Jacobs told reporters. "I mean, we're praying for him; we're hoping he can get back as soon as he can. But we hope that the next guy is ready to step up too."

It's unclear who that next guy will be. Hoyer replaced Garoppolo on Sunday, though when Jimmy G missed Week 4 with a concussion, it was rookie Aidan O'Connell who was called upon. He was designated as the team's emergency quarterback against the Patriots, however.

That has created some confusion about the pecking order at the position.

"There's a lot of balls up in the air right now relative to Jimmy and that whole situation, and we'll just see—have a little patience here for ourselves, and see what the report is going to be," McDaniels told reporters Sunday regarding the quarterback situation. "I'm hoping for the best, obviously, like we all are. We'll find out more and then, obviously, try to make the best decision we can for the team."

McDaniels has been more comfortable going with a veteran like Hoyer as the backup when Garoppolo is healthy, given his experience in the past stepping into relief duties mid-game, per The Athletic's Tashan Reed. He finished 6-of-10 for 102 yards on Sunday.

With a full week to prepare for the Chicago Bears, however, perhaps McDaniels will call upon O'Connell yet again. He had his ups and downs in Week 4's loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, his NFL starting debut, finishing 24-of-39 for 238 yards and an interception. He also took seven sacks, with six alone coming from Khalil Mack.

Either way, the quarterback situation has become a major storyline in Vegas. The good news is that Garoppolo seems to have avoided a worse injury than feared.