After weeks of surviving on the breadcrumbs of training camp reports and having to take other people's words for it, Las Vegas Raiders fans finally got to watch Fernando Mendoza in the Silver and Black for the first time on Thursday night. And although it wasn't perfect, it was still quite glorious.
From a statistical standpoint, Mendoza went 10-for-16 through the air for 97 passing yards and a touchdown with zero interceptions in four drives. But as we know all too well, the numbers don't tell the whole story, or really, anywhere close to it.
For those who watched, it should be obvious: Mendoza is absolutely a franchise quarterback in this league. At least he looked like one after one preseason game. So, let's break down the performance in its entirety, highlighting what he did well and what he needs to work on.
Raiders' Fernando Mendoza looks like franchise QB despite imperfect performance
We'll start with the bad.
On his first drive, Mendoza set up fellow rookie Mike Washington Jr. for what they call a "hospital ball." Mendoza didn't see the boundary corner in the flat and led his running back right into a situation where he could have gotten hit and seriously hit. This wasn't intentional, and it happens, but still.
He also needs to avoid taking hits when possible. Mendoza used his legs on Thursday to extend plays, which was definitely a good thing, but he needs to strike a balance between the two. Other than that, Mendoza had just one throwaway, which was a good call, and a pair of off-target throws.
That wasn't so bad, was it?
Now, let's talk about why Mendoza looked like a franchise player, even if he was imperfect. First of all, those seven points in four drives are a bit of a misnomer. He did put the Raiders in position for a 38-yard field goal on his final drive, which Kansei Matsuzawa missed. So, let's just say 10 points, really.
Before the field goal try, though, Mendoza also made a great toss to the end zone that was just slightly overthrown. Well, for the 5-foot-7 Deven Thompkins, the intended receiver. Almost any other pass-catcher on the roster, especially a player on the first team, likely comes down with that grab.
In reality, Mendoza was just inches from being 11-for-16 for 116 yards and 2 touchdowns. It was that close. Plus, in a general sense, Mendoza just did what he does best: Bounce back from mistakes, not get deterred and stay composed.
Following a throwaway on his first pass attempt, he stayed solid in the pocket and found Jack Bech for a crucial third-down conversion. He also worked through his progression later in the drive to find a nice checkdown, but the team was pushed way behind the sticks because of a hold on Charles Grant.
When that drive ended in a punt, Mendoza didn't get upset. He pulled himself and his team up and led a 10-play, 79-yard touchdown drive once Las Vegas got the ball back. Mendoza hit Benson on a crossing route, and of course, Washington Jr.'s 53-yard rush helped quite a bit as well.
But when the field shrunk, Mendoza played his best football. He overcame two penalties and a sack on the drive to eventually punch the ball in for six, finding Bech on a slant route near the end zone, which was a great low throw in a very tight window. His first touchdown pass was very memorable.
Again, the next drive after halftime wasn't tremendous, as the new crop of players around Mendoza looked a bit disjointed. But Mendoza rallied the troops on the next drive and led them back to the red zone, where the aforementioned sequence with Thompkins and Matsuzawa unfolded.
At various points throughout the night, Mendoza pushed balls up the seam with narrow daylight, worked through his progression to hit a dig on the back side, and made a pinpoint back-shoulder throw to Benson on a play that should have had a defensive pass interference penalty called.
Most importantly, Mendoza was unflappable in his first showing, as he demonstrated immense poise, leadership, and fortitude. That all sounds like a franchise quarterback to me, and it certainly doesn't hurt that, from a pure football perspective, he showed a lot of high-level stuff in the opener.
It took one game, folks.
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