Raiders’ fans circled Thursday night on the calendar months ago. They weren’t disappointed by what they saw.
On Thursday night, the star of the night arrived when the Raiders returned to work on their second offensive series. No. 1 overall draft pick Fernando Mendoza made his NFL quarterback debut for the Raiders, greeted by fans seeking hope at Allegiant Stadium.
On this night, Mendoza acquitted himself well after completing 10 of 16 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown in the Raiders’ 27-14 preseason loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Most importantly, he completed 3 of 4 passes on third down, including a 6-yard touchdown pass to Jack Bech in the second quarter. Good enough to earn a 100.3 passer-rating. He did more than just dink and dunk.
He threw some lobs, including a touchdown pass. He played with intelligence rather than creating a masterpiece out of chaos, such as throwing the football away when he had no play to make. He did well enough to play into the early fourth quarter.
The kid showed why there will be good days ahead for a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2021-2022 season and the Super Bowl since the 2002-2003 season. After the first two passes that quite frankly weren’t very good, Mendoza threw a first-down 9-yard pass to Bech on a third-down conversion.
Source courtesy The Daily Hoosier
This was as good as it got for him in the first series. It was better for Mendoza in his second series, where he made his mark. He engineered a 10-play, 79-yard touchdown drive, tying the game at 14 in the second quarter. He set the tone by throwing a 19-yard pass to Malik Benson.
After fourth-round pick Mike Washington Jr. ran for 53 yards to put the Raiders in scoring position, Mendoza kept the drive going by running for seven yards for a third down, followed by throwing a 7-yard pass to Benson for a fourth down that Washington converted for a first down.
Two plays later, the rookie finished off his drive with a touchdown pass to Bech. Mendoza didn’t do much in his third series in the third quarter. No matter. He did enough for Raiders fans to want to see more.
The rookie will get a chance in a joint practice against the Houston Texans next week, and he will certainly get a look in a game against them, too. It remains to be seen if he plays the final preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers. Here’s what fans want to know:
When is he going to play a regular-season game where the speed of the game is at 100 mph? The Raiders did not draft him to watch starting quarterback Kirk Cousins play. He needs to get work to get all this learning experience over with, and that’s why he’s a sure bet to play this season.
After watching this defense fail to get an incompletion until the third quarter, you can forget about Silver and Black making the playoffs this season. Imagine quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Bo Nix and Justin Herbert going up against this defense. It could be as soon as October if first-year Raiders coach Klint Kubiak decides to say the hell with it with Cousins. Thursday night’s performance will speed up the process.
The best-case scenario would be Mendoza starting in November when the Raiders play a patsy in the New York Jets. This would be a soft-landing spot for him where he can do this on the road before he plays a home game against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks two weeks later. Mendoza has a chance to do well this year.
The offensive line should be decent with expensive free agent Tyler Linderbaum manning center with rookie Trey Zuhn II and second-year player Caleb Rogers in the mix. Running backs Ashton Jeanty and Washington should help him. Plus, the rookie has clicked with Bech and Benson in training camp.
We would be remiss if we didn’t mention Brock Bowers. The Raiders have done everything to put the kid in a position to succeed, not only by getting the right players for him to work with, but also by hiring an excellent coaching staff led by first-year coach Klint Kubiak.
The star was not born after Thursday night, but Mendoza sure has Raider Nation thinking about the possibilities.
