Fernando Mendoza is showing that he’s always going to keep it all the way real with himself regardless of if a play was his fault or not
The Las Vegas Raiders have their quarterback in Fernando Mendoza, and he’s got the accountability aspect down.
The Las Vegas Raiders have their quarterback. After two preseason games, it’s clear the Raiders made the right decision to take Fernando Mendoza No. 1 overall. Now, it’s just about when he will debut as the franchise quarterback.
Mendoza still has a lot to check off the checklist. Before he’s ready, the Raiders need to be ready for him. But it’s not all on the team; Mendoza has to make sure he’s in a place where he understands the level of play he’s about to be facing. So far, he’s definitely got the accountability part down. He’s definitely got an understanding of what it’s going to take to play at the highest level. Mendoza knows what matters most: winning. That’s what happened on Thursday night.
Fernando Mendoza talks second preseason game, the interception, and still having a lot to learn
“I thought the game was fantastic because we won. At the end of the day, the win is all that matters, and we did a great job there on offense and defense playing complementary football in the fourth quarter to dig us out of some mistakes, and we ended up winning the game.”
But it’s not all sunshine and roses. Mendoza wasn’t really a reason the Raiders won. In fact, by the time he was out, the team was down 20-3. They ended up coming back with Aidan O’Connell in the game. Mendoza was technically one of the reasons the Raiders were down, as he threw the pick-six. And sure, he wasn’t completely at fault there, but he took accountability and kept it real with himself.
“It was a play action play and went through my progression. Probably should have checked it down to the flat. Saw the flat player, and at that point, I started backing up and threw the checkdown to Mike Washington, and it was not a good throw,” Mendoza said.
“We weren’t on the same page, and it was an interception. I came away that there’s a lot more learning to do and that although you may have had a lot of success at another level, this level is a whole step further and the margins are so small and that one tiny mistake can lead to catastrophe, so I want to make sure that I best serve my teammates and get better from these experiences.”
The Raiders are going to have all the time in the world with Mendoza. Their patience is already showing. This is a rebuild, and the Raiders want to get it right. So, they’re making sure they get this right. Mendoza is showing that they are.
