Is Fernando Mendoza in Front of a Mic the Best Thing in the NFL Right Now?

Fernando Mendoza got extensive reps with the ones at the Raiders' joint practice with the Texans, a workload nobody covering the team had seen from him yet. Then he stepped in front of a microphone and turned a routine availability into the most wholesome two minutes in football.

"To get some reps with the ones against the superstars on their defense, and then obviously their twos are fantastic as well," Mendoza said. "We got so much work, whether it was move the ball, first down, third down, red zone, two minute. There was so many situations, and I believe overall it was a positive day."

Then came the turn that broke the room.

"There were plays that I loved and plays that I wish I had back. But in reality, that's a lie. I wish I didn't have them back, because it's a growing experience and it's practice," Mendoza said. "It's practice, and this is what I love, and it's a beautiful day to play football here, and I'm so happy I have so many things to learn from today."

Rich's read on it: the quarterback of Sesame Street.

"Today's practice is brought to you by the number one, I played with the ones today," he riffed. "Or today's practice could be sponsored by the number two, because the Texans' twos are really, really good as well. And I absolutely loved the experience including my failures. Yes, children, you can learn from your mistakes." Somebody in studio added the letter A, for awesome.

Not everyone was fully sold. The counterargument from across the desk was two words long: too nice.

That is where the conversation got good, because nice and tough are not the same thing, and Mendoza's tape says so. He took one in the chin from the Ohio State Buckeyes to start the Big Ten Championship, from a defense that was very clearly trying to send a message, and he got up.

"You have to be a red ass to get up off the turf and do what he did against Miami, leaping for the end zone," Rich said. "You think it was too nice there?"

The concern, as explained, is not about courage. Too nice means when push comes to shove you want to hug the defender trying to knock your block off, and you cannot go for the jugular. Andrew Luck came up as the reference point, the quarterback who helped up the guys who hit him and complimented the shot on the way down.

One rebuttal from the desk was that this is exactly why it works. There is nothing worse than getting patted on the head by a guy saying good job, buddy. That makes a defender angrier, not calmer.

Rich landed somewhere warmer than the football argument. This is a world filled with dismay and anger and things nobody can agree on, and here is a rookie quarterback who is present, living life, and playing football purely because he loves it.

The Raiders are supposed to pillage for fun. Their new quarterback is playing for fun. New autumn wind, baby.