Is Fernando Mendoza Primed To SHOCK THE WORLD With A Win Against Seattle?

It's the preview. It's the prediction. If you don't know the drill, I don't know where I'm leaning in these games. That's not true. I know where I'm leaning in these games. I don't know what I'm going to pick, which team I'm going to predict to win, what the score is going to be in my mind until we go through the gauntlet here. And we got a gauntlet for you today. If you're not subscribed, we are less than 100 away from 17,000. Hello? Hit the button. Mendoza tearing it up in practice, we got the Kubiak presser, and then we've got the graphics, the legendary graphics comparing our offense to the Seahawks offense, and then flip side on the defense, there's some stunning stats that we got to read, and then we're going to predict the game. Obviously, there's a lot going on. We've got a rookie quarterback, the first overall pick. Against Mike McDonald, revenge game for Clint Kubiak, revenge game for Mike McDonald. The Seahawks are starting a backup who's already injured. Their third stringer is Jalen Milrow, who some people wanted to draft instead of for Randall Mendoza. I'm going to leave it alone. No, those are separate things to talk about. A lot going on, and I'm not going to tip my cap as to which way I'm leaning in this game. You might think it's obvious, because on paper... You would imagine that Mendoza is going to struggle in this game. And there's no doubt about it that that is probably what should and is going to happen. But we traded away our quarterback, who was very good to great in almost every game we played all season. And yes, we had to do that because a third-round pick for Kirk Cousins, in theory, you couldn't deny. Although, I would argue that people are acting like, well, we had to do this. We had to. No, it's a third-round pick. We didn't have to. John Spitek has made it clear. That Fernando Mendoza has made this decision much more difficult in terms of letting Kirk Cousins go for a measly third round pick. I mean, it's not measly, but you know, you catch the drift. And now the reports are coming out that Fernando Mendoza going up against our defense in practice had some holy cow moments. Okay, this is Warren Mitchell. This was yesterday at the time I'm recording this. With the Cousins trade announced on Tuesday, the Raiders officially moved into the Fernando Mendoza era. The Cousins trade may have been the confirmation, but based on accounts from people around the team, the Raiders weren't going to feel good about waiting much longer to get Mendoza in this lineup. The coaching staff has been mixing in Mendoza with the first team at practice for a while, and while people in the building were becoming increasingly convinced that Mendoza's time needed to come sooner rather than later. Shortly after the Cousins trade, head coach Clint Kubiak said there wasn't a play or series that boosted the team's confidence in Mendoza. But according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Vinny Bonsignor, there was some coach speak to those comments from Kubiak. I said he had a poker face. I said he had a poker face. And I called you out, Clint. That's great for a coach to say that and say that the way he said it, but go talk to some of the players because there's consistently times in practice where there's holy cow moments by Fernando Mendoza. I've talked to enough of them over the last couple of days to understand there's players in that building. are on that team on a daily basis at practice. When they practice, where he's letting something fly. Where he's doing something where it reminds everyone what caliber of quarterback the Raiders potentially have. So it's fun to listen to the players because they know. They see it. They're out there practicing against him. Kind of like, you know, with the whole Brock Bowers thing. You guys got to see what this guy does in practice. He's killing everybody in practice. The coaches may not ever say that up at the podium. Obviously not. That you know what I'm saying because the coaches talk the way the coaches do. When you talk to the players, it's like, oh my god. So get prepared for some of that. Whatever bad that might come with it because there will be learning moments. There's going to be a few times where you go, holy cow about Fernando Mendoza, and I can't wait to see that. Players and coaches are going to show respect for what Cousins was able to do with the first half of the season, but there's no question they have witnessed a different level of talent and ability from Fernando Mendoza. I'm not going to read the rest of it. Warren, great article. You go check that out yourselves. Give them a click. It helps. I don't know how you can't read that and think. Fernando Mendoza has a real chance to be a special player. And special players do special things. And what would be more special than for your first start going up against the Seattle Seahawks dark side defense in the Death Star and shocking the world? And throwing for two touchdowns and 250 yards and winning the game. Now, I'm not predicting that yet. We got to run through the gauntlet. But if this were to happen, there will have been signs planted throughout the way that made it make sense. The fact that Jordan Schultz was reporting that we were kind of the ones pushing the trade, Kirk Cousins, once the Vikings initially called us is very interesting. And now the idea that there are reports that he was doing things in practice that made people think this guy maybe should be starting with Kirk already on the roster, coupled that with the Trey Tucker video we watched yesterday, where they asked him how practice was, and he smiled like the Grinch. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Trey Tucker, bad poker face. He knows the capabilities of what Fernando Mendoza can do with his arm. And comparing him to, wait till you see what Brock Bowers does in these games, what is he doing in practice, there's a lot of that going around. And I said this on Wasted Show a couple days ago. What you're going to get with Fernando Mendoza is just more variance. You're going to get more bad plays than Kirk Cousins had, and you're going to get more explosive plays than Kirk Cousins had. So you kind of have to live with the good and the bad. I do not think this team is going to lose because of Fernando Mendoza. I do think this team is going to lose because of the defense moving forward just like every other game. So let's hear what Coach Kubiak has to say. You know, I'm assuming a large chunk of my viewing audience, the Raider fans, the athletes, the former student-athletes, whether that's high school and college, as you've gotten older have shared the same experiences I have, and that experience being looking back on the student-athlete schedule and thinking, how in the world was I able to function on four hours sleep after going to school, playing basketball, practicing, eating dinner, doing homework, and going to bed? Because now, if I don't get six to seven or eight hours of sleep minimum. My body is a nightmare and I think one of the most underrated aspects of getting a good night's sleep is the mattress that you're using, which is why I'm so, so, so excited to say that this video is sponsored by Bear. Bear reached out to me and I absolutely jumped at the opportunity to work with them because I think sleep is very important. They sent me a new mattress and I just need to tell you a little bit about it. 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And while you're there, leave a little comment in the comment section saying all the board raiders sent you so they know that you came from here. Let me know in the comments if you got your Bear mattress. Thank you so much for Bear for sponsoring the video. Now let's get back to it. Talk to me, Clint. Thomas Booker is questionable. I'll take any of your questions. Okay. Trey Zoon? Yes. I don't think we saw it. Was that? So Thomas Booker is questionable, which means Trey Zoon's playing. Wow. He actually got through concussion protocol. I wonder if that means JPJ will be left guard. The optimal version of his offensive line, potentially. Dante out there, back to stick? Questionable as well. He's got a back. You've talked about this being just another game, but how do you make sure it is just another game, not only for yourself, but the staff, the players that were there last year, and everything you guys accomplished? Yeah, it's easy. The more experience you have in the NFL, the more you treat them all the same. And it's going to be an important game because it's the next game for us. And obviously see some, you know, A lot of people with a lot of extremely strong bonds that I'll have forever that I'm so grateful to see and say hello to, and then it's game time. How much do you like the chess match element of coaching on game day? My favorite part of game day is just seeing the players go out there and put their bodies on the line and play with each other. I know that is a part of the game, but just see things that you've worked on come to life in the game, see guys battle through adversity. I like that. That's the joy, the joy of getting to be on the sidelines and coaching. I agree. What advantage does it come with having Brock Bowers matched up in his corners the way he has this year? Yeah, Brock demands excellent coverage from the best players every week, and he's earned it. You said Fernando is like the same person that he was before versus now when he's a starting quarterback, but did you see him during practice this week maybe turn it up a notch? You know what? I didn't, you know, I think that's what you want from coaches you work with and the players you work with. Trey Tucker said the same thing. He didn't come in and all of a sudden be like rah, rah. He's the same guy. What I work with is that there's no surprises and people are the same all the time. You know, obviously intensity gets notched up, but you want to go see what they've done in practice. You want to see how it shows up in the game. And usually it's those, you know, emotionally stable individuals that... That are able to treat practice in the games the same way. Clint, you are halfway through your rookie year as a head coach. And coaching is coaching. But how are you enjoying the minutia of a head coach? It's a lot different. And it seems like you're adjusting well. How are you enjoying it? And how are you dealing with it? Yeah. I think he's doing a great job. I think there are many instances that he's made mistakes. And he's learning from them. And I really appreciate that about Coach. Because we've had nothing but egocentric coaches. Except for Antonio Pierce, who was like the opposite. He was like, what does everybody else want to do? Okay. It's a blessing to get to work in this league. Whatever position that you are, position coach, or you're a quality controller, you're one of 32. And I think you realize how special and how unique that is and how it's not for long either. You know, the NFL will chew you up and spit you out, so you better make sure you're enjoying it on the way. We talked about the feeling of going against them, but logistically... The challenge of you guys know each other, they know you from a system standpoint, is there a tendency to maybe overthink that, or I guess how do you handle that part of the game? Yeah, absolutely. Those are the discussions that you have on game plan nights, and then you break your meeting and you're on the same page, and now it's about the players. How do we get them ready to go? And I think you take that piece out of it. There's a lot of discussion in game planning every week. Hey, what have we put on tape? What do we think they're seeing? What are they going to do? And then you have to make a decision. Then you get your butt out on the practice field and then make sure the players are executing. How much were you able to maybe talk to Rob this week about what you know about their offensive players from last year? Yes, definitely have discussions about that, about, you know. I expect JSN, I don't even want to say it, personnel and scheme. And that's definitely part of the process this week. You spent half a season so far trying to run the football effectively. Your quest is to play complimentary football week after week. At this point, what can you do differently to get your running game on track? Yeah, no, it's a fair question. And, you know, those are things that we're working on. We work on all the time in practice. I definitely have seen strides. I know it didn't show up last week. And there's things that I can do better. There's things our players can do better. I know you're trying to get Ashton more involved in the offense in various ways. But ultimately Is the success of the offense going to come from him being able to run the football effectively and make, you know, at least decent yards, if not big plays? I know team success will come, you know, when that area improves on offense and on defense. When you have a It's a very diplomatic way to ask him, does Ashton Gentry suck? A young man with the mobility of Fernando. How hard is it to teach them when they're used to taking off in this league? You don't want to always take off. How do you teach them to maybe trust their eyes, stay in the pocket longer, and run as a last resort rather than too quickly? It is just your film study and the things you're coaching within each play. It's a process from, it'll be from now until the end of his career. You learn way more full-speed practice reps, so he gets those reps. But, hey, go through your progression. And, obviously, if it's not there, you've got to go run the football. And then when you're running the football, how do you protect yourself so that you can get us to the next down? Because we need you available for the whole season. You're not trying to sell out for. What does Drew bring to their offense? You know, to me, Drew's a, he's a starting NFL quarterback. I have so much respect for Drew and how good of a player that he is. He's... He's 2-0 this year, and Drew's winning football games. He is. What would be your plan for an emergency quarterback on Sunday? Yeah, we have a plan. You know, we got Aiden, and then we got to go to plan C. So I'm not going to tell you plan C, but plan C is part of the gig, preparing for that when you only have two guys available. Do you have plans for bringing another quarterback at some point? Definitely in discussion with that, yes. That's good. Thanks, Coach. Thanks. Thank you, Clint. All right, look. There was a question, and it made sense. The question was, not here, but last week, or last press conference, whatever. The question was, is the playbook now cut in half? Is it, you know, what are we doing with the rookie, right? I actually think, and I don't think this is like an optimistic viewpoint. I think it's like legit. I think Mendoza opens up a new section of the playbook. There's definitely going to be some RPO stuff. That, you know, Kirk Cousins really wasn't going to be able to do as well as Mendoza in terms of run pass with the quarterback taking off as well. There's going to be some read up, excuse me, some read option stuff. And there's going to be some deep shots. They might not work out. But I promise you, you will see the ball flying like you haven't seen it flown before. And I think if you want to have a chance to like shock the world here in these games. You've got to unleash some stuff that you've been saving. And the optimistic viewpoint is that they are about to do that. Now, if you look at the old predictions, not the predictions, the comparisons here, four and five, five and four, nobody would have thought that these teams would be within one game of each other coming into the season at Week 10, but here we are. And look. The Raiders' offense has been better than the Seahawks' offense. Obviously, it's a little bit different because Fernando Mendoza is going to make his first start. We don't know if this is all going to be able to continue. But we got better quarterback playoff into this point. We've definitely had more total yards per game. We've definitely had more passing yards per game. Rush yards is an absolute problem. There is no doubt about it. And they can run the ball at an average clip. I will say, in the 49er game, I thought that... There were some very good moments against a very good defense that we were able to rush the ball at a decent clip. I think Jenty had 4.5 per carry. He just didn't carry the ball a lot because we were down a lot fast and we had to abandon the run. Half of why Ashton Jenty hasn't been having the totals that we thought he would be is because we've been down so much that we have to just start slinging the ball. And that has everything to do with... I don't even want to show the graphic, but holy ----. I mean, this has got to be the most lopsided graphic in the history of graphics. I mean, they are number one in a category, total yards per game, that we are dead last in. We rank dead last in points, total yards, and rushing yards allowed. The only reason that the defense shows up is because they can get to the quarterback at a decent clip, and they are top 10 in the league with seven interceptions. The Seahawks are number one in total defense and pass defense. They are 13th in takeaways, which is top five. They have 21 sacks in the season and eight interceptions, which is one more than us. This is a horrific graphic. There is no doubt about it. And it makes what I'm about to say really unlikely. My thought process is this. Rob Leonard this year against really good coordinators, Joe Brady, Andy Reid, Eric Bien-Aimé, Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, Josh McDaniels, is going to get outworked, which is what it is. He could even be really good one day, maybe Robbie Leonard, but right now he's not, and he's young, and he's getting worked. Against not great offenses like the Saints or the Dolphins or the Chargers, the defense was okay. The Seahawks this year, even when healthy, have not had a good offense. That's because they don't have some Kubek anymore, and their new coordinator is not some young hotshot guy. He's in his mid-40s. So I expect the defense to look better in this game. Not good, but better. Then you look at the offensive side of the ball. It's an offense that's been humming, except for the run game. I expect the run game to look better than people think, because it's starting to look better with this new look offensive line. I expect Trazun. They continue to have an impact that right guard, and I expect J.P. Day to maybe start a left guard. I think that's what they might do. Fernando Mendoza does not cut the playbook in half. He expands it with RPOs, read options, and deep shots. We've all seen the film of Trey Tucker running wide open and Kirk Cousins not getting in the ball. And there are a few moments throughout every NFL season where you go, how did this happen? And then it becomes a linchpin moment for the rest of the season. I promise you this is not the hubris of a Raider fan or the hopium of someone begging the first round pick of the draft to instantly become Patrick Mahomes. But I believe Fernando Mendoza to be a different breed. And he made mistakes in the preseason that the coach referred to as Spring Fernando. It's now Autumn Fernando. And Trey Tucker did not have a good poker face. And Clint Kubiak said he's excited to see what the kid can do. And I think Fernando Mendoza is special. And I expect him to make mistakes in this game tomorrow. But I expect the defense to pick him up where he makes mistakes. And I expect him to air the ball out and to gain confidence with every single pass he completes. And I expect us to run the ball better. And I'm picking the Raiders to win this game. 24-21. Game-winning field goal. Fernando Mendoza. Game-winning drive. Maybe a turnover or two. A touchdown or two. Ashton Gentry has a huge bounce back game along with Mike Washington. And the defense steps up. Against JSN and Drew Locke. Call me crazy. That's what I'm going with. That's what I'm going with. Leave your comments down below. Am I crazy? Probably. I don't care. You gotta. Scared money don't make money. Hit that like button. Comment away. And please be sure to subscribe. It's Brad Thornhill in charge of you. I love you guys. And I'll see you next time.