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It's day nine of Raiders training camp. Mark it, because it's the first time rookie QB Fernando Mendoza stepped in to lead the first team.
The move was a result of Kirk Cousins and Maxx Crosby getting into it in Friday's practice, causing both to be held out of team sessions, instantly promoting Mendoza to first team status for the day.
“We have very clear expectations on how we want to practice and how we want to go about our business and we violated that yesterday, so held those guys out," said head coach Klint Kubiak. "That's all I'm gonna say about it.”
The move meant working with a group of receivers Mendoza hasn't worked with as much in camp thus far, most notably Brock Bowers, Tre Tucker, and Jalen Nailor. While also seeing more talented defenders to test him further.
“Well, I think as much as he has opportunities that are gonna put him in realistic situations, then it could be with the threes or the twos or the ones," said QB coach Mike Sullivan. "And also along those same lines, the defensive players, because, the speed picks up a little bit. So I think it's important that he doesn't get too far ahead of himself, which, a young man like that doesn't do that. I mean, he is locked in on the process and just trying to improve. Those are the things that we're looking for to help him take those next steps.”
Mendoza has had good and bad days in camp. But, overall, at this stage he's seemingly ahead of where many rookies would be and it's clear his issues aren't a talent issue but just about acclimating to his new offense. There are other areas that Sullivan is looking to see from his talented rookie signal caller.
“I think probably the first thing you'd want to look at is the poise," said Sullivan. "Is there anything that seems to rattle him? If something goes bad, does it start to kind of spiral into more bad things? Does he have a good command, a sense of confidence about what he's going through, and really, just trusting his training, and not trying to put extra pressure on himself? It's the same concepts. It's the same pace, just a little bit faster guys he's going against. And so that's probably the main thing is to see what type of approach from a mental standpoint, because if mentally he starts to get flustered or gets panicked or frustrated, that's gonna reflect in his physical play. And so that's probably the main thing that we'd want to take a look at."
For the Raiders and Mendoza, the micro is the macro. That being that it isn't how you start, but how you finish. Whether that's in a camp, in a practice, or in a game.
“We talk a lot about, when we have our two-minute drills, how critical those are, and I know that's common sense, a Captain Obvious statement, but a quarterback, or any player for that matter, may have had some mistakes along the way, and yet they've done enough to be in a two-minute drive to win the game," Sullivan said of Mendoza. "So regardless of what's happened prior to that two minute drill, good or bad, it's irrelevant. We've got to perform and train that way and get that callous and get that hardness, so that when called upon, on a Sunday, we're able to perform.”
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Top pick QB Fernando Mendoza gets first team reps at Raiders camp
Continue reading...
The move was a result of Kirk Cousins and Maxx Crosby getting into it in Friday's practice, causing both to be held out of team sessions, instantly promoting Mendoza to first team status for the day.
“We have very clear expectations on how we want to practice and how we want to go about our business and we violated that yesterday, so held those guys out," said head coach Klint Kubiak. "That's all I'm gonna say about it.”
The move meant working with a group of receivers Mendoza hasn't worked with as much in camp thus far, most notably Brock Bowers, Tre Tucker, and Jalen Nailor. While also seeing more talented defenders to test him further.
“Well, I think as much as he has opportunities that are gonna put him in realistic situations, then it could be with the threes or the twos or the ones," said QB coach Mike Sullivan. "And also along those same lines, the defensive players, because, the speed picks up a little bit. So I think it's important that he doesn't get too far ahead of himself, which, a young man like that doesn't do that. I mean, he is locked in on the process and just trying to improve. Those are the things that we're looking for to help him take those next steps.”
Mendoza has had good and bad days in camp. But, overall, at this stage he's seemingly ahead of where many rookies would be and it's clear his issues aren't a talent issue but just about acclimating to his new offense. There are other areas that Sullivan is looking to see from his talented rookie signal caller.
“I think probably the first thing you'd want to look at is the poise," said Sullivan. "Is there anything that seems to rattle him? If something goes bad, does it start to kind of spiral into more bad things? Does he have a good command, a sense of confidence about what he's going through, and really, just trusting his training, and not trying to put extra pressure on himself? It's the same concepts. It's the same pace, just a little bit faster guys he's going against. And so that's probably the main thing is to see what type of approach from a mental standpoint, because if mentally he starts to get flustered or gets panicked or frustrated, that's gonna reflect in his physical play. And so that's probably the main thing that we'd want to take a look at."
For the Raiders and Mendoza, the micro is the macro. That being that it isn't how you start, but how you finish. Whether that's in a camp, in a practice, or in a game.
“We talk a lot about, when we have our two-minute drills, how critical those are, and I know that's common sense, a Captain Obvious statement, but a quarterback, or any player for that matter, may have had some mistakes along the way, and yet they've done enough to be in a two-minute drive to win the game," Sullivan said of Mendoza. "So regardless of what's happened prior to that two minute drill, good or bad, it's irrelevant. We've got to perform and train that way and get that callous and get that hardness, so that when called upon, on a Sunday, we're able to perform.”
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Top pick QB Fernando Mendoza gets first team reps at Raiders camp
Continue reading...
