During his NFL career, Jarrett Stidham has served as a backup for Tom Brady, Cam Newton, Brian Hoyer and Derek Carr. On Sunday, the former Auburn standout will have a backup, not be the backup after the Las Vegas Raiders named him the starting quarterback for their final two games of the NFL’s 2022 regular season.

But Stidham said he didn’t try to do anything differently this week than he did when he was backing up his veteran teammates.

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“Obviously, you dream of playing in the NFL as a kid, and to start a game in the NFL is a dream come true,” Stidham said. “But at the same time, I’ve been preparing since my rookie year. I’ve tried to prepare the same every single week whether I was the backup or the starter. Obviously, have gotten to learn under a bunch of really good guys – players, coaches – so I’ve always tried to treat the weeks the same, and it’s no different this week. …

“Every week so far this year, for instance, I’ve been the backup, and my routine has been the same. And I’ve tried to keep it the same because I feel like if you try to overdo or overthink things, it can be detrimental, so I’ve just tried to prepare the way that I know how and the way that I feel good about going into the game with the game plan and so on and so forth.”

Carr has started all but two games since the start of the 2014 season for the Raiders. And while Las Vegas has a 6-9 record – with eight of the losses by seven or fewer points – the Raiders remain in contention for a postseason spot, although they would have to beat two of the NFL’s best teams and have things break right with five other AFC competitors to get to the postseason.

“It’s definitely different,” Las Vegas running back Josh Jacobs said when asked about Carr’s benching. “I’ve seen a lot of things in my four years here. …

“We can’t control none of that. It’s not like it’s our decision, so just come in and work each day.”

But the former Alabama standout and 2022 NFL rushing leader said the Raiders didn’t doubt the new quarterback’s ability.

“We knew who Stiddy was since camp,” Jacobs said. “He can spin the ball. He’s been in this system longer than any quarterback we’ve had here. He knows what’s going on. He knows what reads to make. It’s going to be fun to see him in the game.”

Stidham joined the New England Patriots in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. He played in three NFL regular-season games in 2019 and five in 2020. But in 2021, Stidham never got in a game after sustaining an offseason injury. Stidham had surgery on July 28 because of a back injury and spent the first nine weeks of the season on the reserve/physically-unable-to-perform list.

Stidham joined the Raiders in May, when Las Vegas sent a sixth-round choice in the 2023 NFL Draft to the Patriots for the quarterback and a seventh-round pick.

The trade reunited Stidham with Josh McDaniels, his offensive coordinator for three seasons with the Patriots who had become the Raiders’ head coach in January.

“He’s a young player that has a lot of experience in the system, if that makes any sense,” McDaniels said. “He’s practiced a lot, obviously, doing it. The terminology, understanding of the foundation, all that stuff, I have no concern about that at all. What Jarrett lacks is just play time.”

In NFL regular-season games, Stidham has completed 32-of-61 passes for 342 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions.

Stidham has seen more action in the preseason, even though the NFL canceled its 2020 schedule and he missed the 2021 preseason. In eight preseason games, Stidham has completed 90-of-136 passes for 1,047 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. He led the AFC in passing yards in the 2019 preseason as he supplanted Hoyer as Brady’s backup in New England.

“It’s like anything in life,” Stidham said of the Las Vegas playbook. “When you do something repetitively over and over again, you just get comfortable.”

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Stidham’s first NFL start will come against the San Francisco 49ers at 3:05 p.m. CST at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Stidham said his goal was “to win.”

“That’s why we all play is to win football games, so that’s first and foremost,” Stidham said. “My job is to facilitate the offense and run it how it’s supposed to be run. That’s all I can do is just be prepared and try to do that.”

The 49ers have won eight consecutive games and have yielded fewer points and fewer yards than any other defense in the NFL in 2022.

Stidham’s second start is slated to come against the Kansas City Chiefs on Jan. 8. At 12-3, the Chiefs are tied with the Buffalo Bills for the best record in the AFC.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Stidham said. “I’m super-excited about it. I think it will be a great challenge for us, and I know we’re looking forward to it.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1