Before Pete Carroll's first and only season with the Las Vegas Raiders had concluded, the fanbase (and probably John Spytek and Co.) were looking for his replacement. With Fernando Mendoza in the crosshairs via the No. 1 pick, some folks started advocating for Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti.
Now, Cignetti is a great coach, but the whole curmudgeon shtick doesn't really work in today's NFL, outside of Bill Belichick. And while Cignetti was never seemingly a real option, he was a big fan of Mendoza getting paired with young offensive mastermind Klint Kubiak, who is high on the rookie.
On the surface, these two coaches appear quite different. And that's completely fine, as there are many ways to lead a team and coach a young player, and Mendoza should be adaptable to different styles. But according to Mendoza himself, these two are more alike than meets the eye.
Fernando Mendoza loves Klint Kubiak and Curt Cignetti's similar coaching styles
Mendoza recently made a guest appearance on The Rush With Maxx Crosby, where he talked about a myriad of Raiders topics. But when asked to compare Kubiak and Cignetti, the young signal-caller focused on some key similarities, and Las Vegas fans will love his response.
"They're both their unique selves, and they're both great coaches," Mendoza stated simply. "The college and NFL level is different. Dealing with college kids [rather] than grown men, it's very different. But I would say the main similarity that I've seen is the attention to detail."
It's easy for a coach to be labeled as detailed or someone who holds people accountable, but rarely does this actually pan out in any meaningful way. Mendoza, however, provided concrete examples of this in action with Cigentti, and he's already seeing the same approach with Kubiak in the early going.
"For example, you make a big completion [in practice], and you're looking forward to seeing it on film. And then both of those guys [would] be like, 'Come on, really? You took an extra hitch,' or, 'Come on, instead of five yards, you're four and a half,'" Mendoza explained. "Then, in the season, you see it show up, and it's like, 'Okay that pass was completed by this much because I was at the right depth or because I didn't take that extra hitch.' And you see the same similarities of coach Kubiak pushing and really making sure you're doing everything, rather than giving you a pat on the back. Finding something to improve because I have a lot to improve on."
That should be music to the ears of Raider Nation. Accountability has been painfully absent from this team and building in recent years, but if Kubiak is who Mendoza is describing him to be, then those days are gone. And Cignetti had a lot of success last year coaching in a similar manner.
But that's not the only way that these two coaches are aligned. Mendoza explained that both men treat everyone equally and don't overtly favor the quarterback. Equality is never a bad thing, and having a humble head of the snake can lead to great team chemistry and, ultimately, success.
"I think Coach Cignetti and Coach Kubiak both preach in a way that everyone's equal," Mendoza said. "And how I see that as a quarterback is killing the ego. Making sure that no matter what success I had at Indiana or future success or whatever, [the] expectation [is] that there's no ego there, and the only motivation is getting better."
Perhaps the best part about all of this is that Mendoza doesn't really have to adjust to how he is being coached. He wasn't babied in college and has to learn that an NFL coach doesn't hate him because he is correcting mistakes or cleaning things up. Mendoza doesn't get to coast as the top pick, either.
On paper, it is the perfect environment for Mendoza to step into. He wants to learn. He wants to be challenged. And he wants to be one of the guys, doing his 1/11th. Under Cignetti, that was the case, and they ended up on the mountaintop. With Kubiak doing the same, Raider Nation can only hope.
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