Why Rich Is Warming on the Idea of Fernando Mendoza as the Raiders’ Week 1 Starting QB

Rich has been a Kirk Cousins is going to start guy for months. Months. That position is now officially wobbling.

Fernando Mendoza got the start in Houston with Cousins in street clothes, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on the call, Monday Night Football's crew working a Thursday. The line was not pretty. Eight of 15, 86 yards, a pick-six. Look at that on your phone the next morning and the conclusion writes itself. There is no way he should start.

The pick-six was as rookie as it gets. Mendoza faded left way too long, held the ball, then threw it back across the middle late, telegraphed the whole way. Then he made the second rookie mistake, chasing the returner down the field, which is how a first overall pick ends up with a hamstring problem or a separated shoulder in August. The Raiders came back to win it 22-20 after trailing 20-3, which delighted exactly one group of people, and if you are betting preseason football, there are numbers you can call about that.

Here is what turned Rich around. Watching the all-22 breakdowns, including some Dan Orlovsky posts, the incompletions look different. A quick out that falls harmlessly is really Mendoza diagnosing the defense pre-snap, choosing between the two plays he got in the huddle, and deciding what to do when a corner who was playing off suddenly presses. All of that happens in a blink. Fans see a missed throw. Coaches see the process. And the only way Mendoza speeds that process up is by living inside it.

Sitting behind Cousins for two months does not obviously deliver that. Starting him, though, means putting the franchise into a schedule that opens at home against Miami, then goes to the Chargers and into the dome in New Orleans, then Kansas City at home, at New England, home for Buffalo, home for the Rams. Behind an offensive line that might not hold up. That is the case for Cousins as human shield, protecting a quarterback Rich called Bambi, but do not call him a deer in headlights.

Clint Kubiak was not giving anything away afterward. Asked whether it was safe to say Cousins is the Week 1 starter, he said, "I don't want anyone to be comfortable in their job. That's how it should always be, from all positions." A non-answer, and an open door.

Mendoza's own review was pure Mendoza. "I came away that there's a lot more learning to do," he said, noting that this level is a whole step further and the margins are so small that "one tiny mistake can lead to catastrophe." He pronounced it catastrophe, which the room enjoyed thoroughly. Then there was Laura Rutledge's sideline interview during the game, where Mendoza asked her to tell Cousins he did a great job and to pass along a hello to Mr. Buck, before generously noting that Mr. Aikman already gets plenty of love.

Aikman, for his part, told Scott Van Pelt afterward that he thinks this kid has greatness in him. The comparison Rich keeps circling back to is Drake Maye, who watched Jacoby Brissett absorb the early beating behind a bad offensive line before taking over, then reached a Super Bowl in year two. Jordan Love, on the show earlier in the week, said he got real value out of watching Aaron Rodgers.

Wins and losses always matter, and they matter plenty to Tyler Linderbaum and Max Crosby, who did not sign up to eat a lost season. Nobody sacrifices a year on the altar of anything in August. But if Mendoza can protect himself by identifying pressure and getting the ball out, the argument gets harder to wave off. Rich would even consider giving him preseason week three to keep the reps coming.

Mendoza Mania is coming either way. The minute he makes his first NFL start, it is all eyes.