Fernando Mendoza gets his feet wet in live action

Fernando Mendoza, the Las Vegas Raiders 2026 #1 overall pick, saw his first live action of the regular season. At the end of a 45-17 blowout to the New England Patriots, Mendoza was brought in to run the no-huddle offense for a series. Watching him come in and go through his progressions, make the correct reads and good throws should remind us of something ‘The Sheriff’ once said.

“I learned a lot of good football at the end of bad football games.” – Peyton Manning

Sure, it was garbage time and the Patriots had called off the dogs. However, even when the Patriots dialed it up once Mendoza and the offense ventured into plus territory, he proved up to the task. Mendoza showed some escapability and a willingness to tuck it and run when there wasn’t anything downfield.

Every pass delivered had some zip on it and none of the wideouts dropped a pass he threw. His first five passes were all accurate completions to four different receivers. His sixth pass was caught, but Malik Benson couldn’t get his second foot down in bounds. His seventh pass was broken up by Elliott Davison, who sat on the out route and waited for him to throw out when the blitz rushed his throw.

It was a good outing for Mendoza. Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak was quick to tell reporters that it didn’t signify a change in the plans for which quarterback would be starting moving forward. It’s still Kirk Cousins’ job, but an opportunity to get reps for his young signal caller presented itself and he took it. It was a small sample size of things to come, but definitely cause for excitement.