Las Vegas Raiders rookie QB Fernando Mendoza had a very head-scratching quote after his preseason debut against the Cardinals
The Las Vegas Raiders rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza had himself a decent game, but he was hard on himself after the game.
The Las Vegas Raiders rookie quarterback had his preseason debut on Thursday. Fernando Mendoza played well against the Arizona Cardinals.
He went 10/16 for 97 yards and one touchdown pass. Not to mention, orchestrated the offense perfectly with a scoring drive, which was one of the only two scoring drives. The Raiders had to love what they saw from him. Were there some bad moments? Eh, kind of. The first drive was not great, but I think once he settled down, Mendoza was locked in. He had several great throws. But what Mendoza said after the game was a little head-scratching.
Raiders rookie QB Fernando Mendoza talks his first game
“It was great. It was great. In the first series, I felt a little sped up. It was good to come back on the sideline, learn from my mistakes, and then in the second series, we were able to score,” Mendoza told reporters after the game. “In the third series, I missed a read there, and in the fourth series, I thought we had a good thing going. Unfortunately, I missed a throw at the end.
“Overall, I felt that the group that I was in with blocked fantastic. They had great routes. Run game was good. Unfortunately, I let my teammates down today. But it’s a growing experience, and I feel like we’re all growing, and it showed me that I need to grow a lot.”
To say he let his teammates down is kind of wild. But this is how he is. This is how Mendoza will be after every game if the team did not win. He did not let his teammates down; he played as well as he could in the situations he was put in. And it’s the preseason; a loss isn’t always bad. The Raiders learned a lot from this loss about every unit of their team.
They also learned that Mendoza can orchestrate the offense efficiently against NFL players. He connected with Jack Bech for a six-yard TD pass after a nine-play, 79-yard scoring drive. Then, we all saw those insanely nice throws he made to Malik Benson. He fit it into a tight window between four defenders, where only Benson could get it. The best part was that it was a play-action play from under center. Mendoza did so many things well on Thursday. One thing he didn’t do was let his teammates down.
