Raiders Must Consider Making The SWITCH TO MENDOZA ASAP!

You know, I'll be honest with you. I don't have my floating helmet. Okay, live demonstration. I didn't want to be honest with you with this, but it's a live demonstration. We're going to put the helmet on. It's a magnet, if you're wondering. I'm not sponsored, but you can get it at NFLshop.com, I believe. I wish they would sponsor me, but I reached out, and I didn't hear anything back. Floating helmet's on. I'm going to be honest with you. When I said yesterday I would consider going to Fernando Mendoza, I definitely thought Clint Kubiak was going to be like, it's too early, Kirk's our guy. you don't want to play your kid on the road and blah blah blah blah but no in that presser that I did not react to Vinny was asked like at a certain point you lose four straight you're not out of the playoff hunt yet but when do you start considering going to Fernando Mendoza and Kubiak to his credit didn't give a non-committal answer he was like yeah all options are open we're going to look at how to get better we need to get better in the red zone he said specifically which is Again, something that I've been saying for a long time, a Mendoza red zone package. At this point, you guys know where I stand. I really appreciate what Kirk did. And Mendoza's ability to play football has a lot to do with what Kirk Cousins did this year, showing him the ropes and being the mentor that he is. I respect what Kirk Cousins said in his presser saying the best guy should be out there. I'd be the first one to say if I think I'm not the best guy that you can't play me. i really respect kirk cousins and he's not really even getting benched in my mind but i just think it's time i think it is officially fernando mendoza time it's really crazy how the confidence that you have in your football team can switch on a dime because if you told me as i checked the call street markets here that i'm seriously considering taking the jets in this game a couple weeks ago after coming off a back-to-back really good losses against the chiefs losing by three and then against the bills losing by three i would say you're crazy but now after losing to the rams in the which in the way in which we did and Clint Kubiak maybe hinting at the possibility of Fernando Mendoza i don't know if that gives me more or less confidence in this game i can't tell you the last time that we won a game in new york we have success against the jets at home but that 10 a.m body clock west coast east coast travel i don't love it i don't love it right now if you purchased the no contract on Calshi and you throw 25 on there you win if they don't win you win 48 30 interesting interesting i will say this if you are interested in checking out Calshi use code all aboard to instantly get 25 when you trade 25 and the reason why Calshi is so unique and better in my opinion than your typical sports book is because you're not betting against the house like you are when you use a traditional sports book. You are purchasing yes or no contracts, peer-to-peer trading where we set the market on anything you can think of. Movies, TV, politics, media. If you want to purchase those contracts, Calshi has them. You know, I was sitting here thinking about this. A lot of people assume that Mendoza would be in once the season was lost. And I know right now it's hard to think we're still in it, but we still technically are. We're three and four. Who knows what happens? You throw the rookie in there, he catches fire blah blah blah what i will say is this it does help that we are only one game under 500 if they do decide to start him because you want him to be playing in meaningful games every game will be meaningful to him and you know that by the way he conducts himself but you know we win this game and we're four and four we're in the mix for a wild card spot we don't really have the talent right now to compete for the division or a championship but we know this it was a nice little run we had and let's not pretend like the Chiefs and Bills game were like disasters either everyone was like oh of course we were going to lose these four games it's like okay well when we were in these games we could have won them so let's let's not go complete revisionist history here but Mendoza getting meaningful reps in games that actually matter in terms of his development this is almost the best case scenario we had our fun to be like super competitive and now it's time to play the kid and I said this yesterday Kirk Cousins may know the offense like the back of his hand and know exactly where to go every single time. We had six points at half. It can't get much worse than that. Two field goals. I think there's a world where Mendoza can manage to get us six points at halftime against the Rams. And I do think his ability to run is going to open up some of these run lane holes in the red zone and for Ashton Gentry, and it would help us pick up some first downs that we're not getting. Mendoza can stretch the ball down the field. Now, I do want to preach. We have to understand he's a rookie quarterback. We haven't had like a young rookie who we really, truly believed in playing a long time, and we have to understand that he's going to make some mistakes. But, you know, let's hear what Shefty and the boys have to say. Apparently, I don't know what Shefty said here, but apparently he made it seem like it's a real possibility and then we got some stuff to read as well. Another turnover potentially happening in Las Vegas. Go ahead, AJ. Shefty, yeah, Fernando Mendoza. Are we going to see him thrust into the lineup there? I know Coach Kubiak has kind of made some comments. Like, what do you expect there? Yeah, well, he left the door open there, AJ, and they asked him about it after the game, and he acknowledged that they're going to talk about all these things. So that's a yes, right? It's always a yes when we hear this, right? It usually means we're going in. Well, that's the whole point, right? They asked Shane Steichen yesterday about Daniel. No, Daniel's our quarterback. They asked Clint Kubiak. It's like we're evaluating everything, which usually tells you. Here's what I would say. Change is coming. We just don't know whether it's this week, next week, week after. Now, this week, they play the Jets, right? So you say, well, this is a great week to do it. They played the Jets, who lost to the Dolphins, who hadn't held a lead at any point in the season going into that game and then led the entire game and won the game against the Jets. So you say, well, this should be a great week to start for Minshew. But look at the rest of the schedule. So, first of all, I'm not a big proponent of, like, well, you have to put him in here because it's the only time of the week you can't put him in against the Seahawks. Well, he's going to have to play at some point. so play him if you are a proponent of like where's the softest spot there's no soft spot again until the Chargers these are four hard games three on the road this is the time to do it if you are a proponent of where is the spot to do it it's right now and then you see what the kids made of over the next few weeks i think you have to pull the trigger here for Kubiak after this week at San Francisco, home for Seattle, at Denver actually like that is a brutal schedule I mean, I don't know. I think it's time. I think it's time. I think it's time. All right. So this was yesterday. This was the exact quote from Klubeiak. I think at this point, we're thinking about everything. How to fix our problems, how to fix our issues in the red zone in the third quarter personnel scheme. We've got to talk about it all. Despite the Raiders struggles, Cousins has been mostly solid under center, throwing for 16 touchdowns and five picks. His passing total leads the NFL. Would he be the first quarterback ever to be benched while leading the league in touchdown passes? Cousins threw for 300 yards and a pair of scores. I mean, it was kind of like phantom, you know, phantom stats at the end. Las Vegas' main issue has been on defense. It's given up 30, 45, 33, and 35 points its last four games. Respectively, that surely will be something to address in the coming weeks as the Raiders try to turn things around. Still, it could be worth giving Mendoza a shot, especially if the Raiders are still in the rebuilding phase. Whether Kubiak has decided to change the course of action to go with Mendoza this year remains to be seen. The Raiders will face the New York Jets, one of the league's top-passing defenses. And next week, so it'll be tough tests for the young player. I mean, look, I'm not in the business of babying Fernando Mendoza. We saw him get popped in that Big Ten championship game. And he played a lot of NFL players in that game. Caleb Downs and Orville Reese. And what's that guy's name? The lineman. White guy. Can't think of his name, but he's in the NFL right now, too. It's time. It's time. We're still in the race here. I'm not saying it's time like give up on the season I'm saying it's time like He gives us the better chance to win I fully believe that If anything he gives us the same chance to win Kirk Cousins has been incredible But this team is not Built to withstand A pocket passer I keep repeating myself but if you Continue to get stuffed Running the football You must Pull the trigger and put in your mobile quarterback who has proven to be able to you know to be accurate with the football yeah he's going to be nervous but he's a rookie it's time to get his sea legs under him Max Crosby has not had a good year and some trade rumors are kind of flying ish new Max Crosby trade rumors update buzz on Raiders star after failed Ravens offseason deal uh is this Schefter as well okay Let's just hear what Jeff Durst has to say. Max Crosby, the issue there is he means so much to that franchise. He was the one that was forcing the issue in the offseason. He was the one that wanted to be traded. Initially, the Raiders bought, and then they found two ones. And I just don't think they're getting that back now. He's an unbelievable player. I don't think they're getting two ones. And so maybe it just makes sense to hold on to him. Particularly, again, they're 3-4. They're 3-4. If they can find a way to win the Jets game on Sunday, they're 4-4. You don't want to sell off the heart and soul of your team the face of your franchise you don't want to do that um and i don't know that anybody would give up enough to make it happen so i don't rule out anything but at that the trade talks surrounding Max Crosby to me have lost a little bit of steam i know it's probably silly to look at the playoff picture in this moment but assuming the afc south gets one team the afc east gets two the afc north gets three i mean that's probably it right three four five six yeah seven one from the afc west i I mean, I think if you want to save your season for the playoffs, you put Mendoza in too. Max Crosby just doesn't have any value right now. He's 29. He has 18 tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble, fumble recovery, do seven games. He's two sacks for seven games. It hasn't exactly been the pace of a player who's reached double-digit sacks four times in his career, though he remains highly impactful off the edge nonetheless. Any number of teams would love to add a player of Crosby's caliber, whether they are willing to pay for it. Yeah, I mean, look, people can scream and yell and be like, he sucks and blah, blah, which is you know kind of what i've been saying this year i don't think he sucks like he's had a very bad year it's unfortunate but this is what it is um i don't care about that he's doubled and tripled i do not care about any of that at all because the greats get doubled and tripled but when you're evaluating this roster like if you trade him this defense who already doesn't have much of a chance because they're so young and so inexperienced you have a zero chance like max crosby is still an impactful player because he has so much gravity and Shefty said it right there you win this game against the Jets, which right now I'm not expecting to. Maybe I could be convinced otherwise. We'll see what happens with Fernando Mendoza this week. I do think it is time to pull the trigger, but we'll see. But if you do win this game, you're 4-4. The Chiefs lose or the Broncos lose. You're in second place, essentially. The Broncos don't scare me. The Chiefs look really bad against the first good team they played all year. Truly a good team. The Chiefs, you know, week one's always weird and they destroyed Denver, which Denver might not be that good. The Colts gave the Chiefs all they could handle. We gave the Chiefs all they can handle. They beat the lowly Dolphins and they beat another bad team, the Chargers. And then they played the Seahawks and they got destroyed. So maybe this division is still not out of the realm. But if you're evaluating this roster right now, it's a draft and a free agency away. This feels like a step above what the Patriots had with Drake May. His rookie year, when he came in, he played pretty well, won a couple of games. I think they won like three or four games total, and then they drafted Will Campbell. If we end up with a top 15, top 10 pick, you go get a lineman, whether it's on the defensive or offensive side of the ball, you add a wide receiver in free agency or in the draft. That's what we really need. This team needs another lineman badly on each side of the ball, and then a top wide receiver. And that's what the Patriots did. They added Will Campbell. They went out and spent a ton of money on the defensive side of the ball, and they added Stefon Diggs. And all of a sudden, Drake May went from an okay rookie year with some flashes to an MVP type season and I think that's the blueprint that the Raiders need to look at right now we had a little more success than Jacoby Brissett and the Patriots did initially and we already have our coach we know Clint Kubiak is a great offensive mind we'll see only time will tell with Robbie Leonard but in terms of following the Patriots blueprint we are a little more ahead of schedule than them because they had to go with Mike Vrabel year two Drake May we have Kubiak and Mendoza together here, growing and learning together. Trey Tucker has now emerged a little bit as a weapon you might not have thought you had initially. So offensively, I think we're a little closer than we think in terms of weaponry. We need to fix that offensive line. And defensively, some massive improvements and changes needs to happen. I'd like to see more Jerrod McCoy at this point. Hezekiah Masses has been on and off. Stukes has been really good. And the linebacking core has been pretty decent overall. Tonka Hemingway has flashed as well. So again, we're 3-4. It's been a tough four-game stretch here. It doesn't feel like we're ever going to win again. But you win this week against the Jets, especially with the rookie Fernando Mendoza. And I'm telling you, the Raider Nation juices are going to be flowing like they are in the Discord. Shout out to the people in the Discord, okay? Also shout out to my $5 and $10 patrons and YouTube members. If you want to become one of these beautiful people make sure you're clicking the join button below or following the link in the description it's completely free no it's not completely free i don't know why i said that but you get a bunch of benefits it keeps the lights on you know it is free hitting that like button commenting away and please being sure to subscribe that is free after all no charge to you i love you guys and i'll see you next time