Pre-Season: Arizona Cardinals @ Las Vegas Raiders Pre-Game Thread. 08/07/26- 08/12/26

[Adrian]

….and go

 

[Brian in Mesa]

@Shane - I can't remember, how many people fit inside your suite at Allegiant?

 

[Garthshort]

One thing I'm certain about. TV people hope that Kurt starts for the Raiders and Jacoby for the Cardinals. Minshew and someone for the Raiders finish out the first half. Then Mendoza and Beck start the second half. Now, that's made for TV. Can't wait.

 

[BooksOrangePlanet]

if this game isn't mendoza vs beck people are gonna be pissed - brissett and minshew are known quantities - risking nothing but injuries - who knows what the raiders will do tho

 

[oaken1]

One thing I'm certain about. TV people hope that Kurt starts for the Raiders and Jacoby for the Cardinals. Minshew and someone for the Raiders finish out the first half. Then Mendoza and Beck start the second half. Now, that's made for TV. Can't wait.

the way Beck played yesterday I think TV would be fine if it were Beck V Mendoza from the opening kick...
Give the two youngsters one half of football to go head to head.

or...yeah,..I see your point...
get some real starters in early...then follow it up with some higher quality rookie play...makes sense...my bad

 

[Jttsaz]

Lets Go!!!

 

[az jam]

I wonder if MLF will play any of the starters in the preseason. I don't think Gannon did and many teams don't. I hope they do

 

[Garthshort]

Assuming that Mendoza and Beck are in the game at the same time, and even if they are not, who is under the most pressure?

* You could say Mendoza as he was pick #1 and Beck was about #65.
* You could say Beck, as he has to prove that the HOF game was not just a fluke, playing against backups.

Any opinions?

 

[Carolinacacti]

BJ with a good game calling it now

 

[football karma]

I wonder if MLF will play any of the starters in the preseason.

the McVay approach has been to give the starting QB 0 snaps and other starters VERY sparingly.

does he follow that? we will see

maybe because the system is new, starters get some snaps, but I am betting on very limited starter appearances during the preseason

 

[BullheadCardFan]

BJ with a good game calling it now

That's really drinking the kool aid

He looks slow

It would surprise me if he shows improvement

 

[Totally_Red]

Play Minshew a little. Maybe a dash of Love. I really only want to see starters for a quarter or so NEXT week versus the Boys.

 

[oaken1]

Assuming that Mendoza and Beck are in the game at the same time, and even if they are not, who is under the most pressure?

* You could say Mendoza as he was pick #1 and Beck was about #65.
* You could say Beck, as he has to prove that the HOF game was not just a fluke, playing against backups.

Any opinions?

Beck...
For Mendoza...the starting job is already a given. Just depends how long the team wants to run with Cousins in order to get him ready.

But with Beck...we have two of the best backup QB's in the league sitting in front of him...with the way his draft stock shifted from one year to the next..
he has to prove that we dont just have the THREE best backup QB's in the league. He needs to clarify a strong distinction between having him on the field versus having JB on the field.
He got off to a good start in the HoF game but we all know that outing usually means less than crap since a huge chunk of the guys who played in that game wont survive first cuts...I mean come on,...playing in the HoF game is usually a punishment for guys that couldnt keep their crap together during the first two weeks of camp...
although I did notice a difference, and others mentioned it as well during the game...usually the HoF game looks like a high school squad after a single practice... but this year both teams actually looked way more polished than we normally see...very surprising considering we are breaking in a new staff and offensive system...

The thing is.... Beck lead us to a tie before Slovis took over....iirc it was like 17-17...
But the thing is......thats not a win...
we all know it was on the defense...we saw the offense clicking, moving the ball...scoring points...lots of points technically...pacing for around 35 points on a full game...so very good..

But how is that any different from what JB has been doing for us for a year?? Moving the ball, stacking stats... but not doing enough on offense to overcome a very weak defense.

if our identity is going to be "a good offensive team whose defense is keeping them from the playoffs"...we at least need to be good enough to win some games in spite of our defense.

But Beck didnt do that. He lead us to a tie...and a tie aint a win...
Beck cannot prove he is better than JB by stacking ties and close losses... because JB already does that.

sometimes new coaches have the philosophy of "hang around, keep it close, and play for a chance to win it in the end"
But we cant do that because the philosophy has been "Keep it close, let the opponent hand around so they can steal the win from us in the end"

we need to break away from that...the philosophy needs to be..."Play hard, stack enough points that the opponent cannot pull out a win by getting a single score in the fourth quarter or last two minutes"

a one score lead is as good as a loss for us right now..we cant keep it...so we need to build bigger leads.

 

[Adrian]

Adam Schefter
@AdamSchefter
·
1h
Raiders HC Klint Kubiak told reporters that Kirk Cousins and Maxx Crosby are being held out of practice today for violating team rules for fighting Friday.

 

[oaken1]

Adam Schefter
@AdamSchefter
·
1h
Raiders HC Klint Kubiak told reporters that Kirk Cousins and Maxx Crosby are being held out of practice today for violating team rules for fighting Friday.

that has always struck me as an odd form of punishment/discipline.

you screwed up!!..so take the day off...galdernit!

need to get some BuddyBall going on those guys...make them push a wheelbarrow full of rocks around the field 200 times....after practice.
or..if your a sissy...then make them break down tape from every game last season, with notes,...and revised game plans for how to attack that opponent more effectively in the future.

 

[BooksOrangePlanet]

Adam Schefter
@AdamSchefter
·
1h
Raiders HC Klint Kubiak told reporters that Kirk Cousins and Maxx Crosby are being held out of practice today for violating team rules for fighting Friday.

cousins is the nfl's russell westbrook

 

[PDXChris]

Interesting thing I heard on the radio this week. Klint Kubiak was their #1 target because he could be both Mendoza's HC and spiritual leader. I did not realize how religious Klint Kubiak until I looked it up this morning. The Kurt Cousin's signing also makes sense in that way too then. Kubiak gave every Seahawk player and coach bibles for Christmas this year. It is going to be interesting to see how this works out.