Grading Fernando Mendoza’s first preseason start with Raiders

After letting veteran Kirk Cousins start in the team's preseason opener, the Las Vegas Raiders a chance to work as the starter on Thursday night against the Houston Texans. Going against the Texans defense is a tough task, as the team not only has high-end starters, but also has the depth to still be really good when some of those starters are on the bench.

So, how did Mendoza fare in his first preseason start? Well...there were definitely some ups and downs that we can talk about based on his performance.

Grading Fernando Mendoza's first preseason start

Mendoza's performance against the Texans was very much not as impressive as his preseason debut against the Arizona Cardinals. In that one, Mendoza was 10-for-16 for 97 yards and a touchdown. He moved the ball well and put his team in good position.

Against the Texans...ehh. Mendoza put the team in an early hole when he threw a pick six in the first quarter, and he was unable to lead the team to any touchdown drives in the first half. He finished the game 8-for-15 for 86 yards with the pick and was sacked once.

That interception is an example of why the Raiders are right to start the year with Kirk Cousins under center. Mendoza had open receivers, but chose to force the ball up the middle, and Wade Woodaz is able to jump in front of the intended receiver, hauling in the pass and taking it the other way for the score. With time, Mendoza should learn not to make that throw in that kind of traffic against a defense as good as this one, but for now, it's a clear rookie mistake.

This isn't to say every throw Mendoza made was a bad one, though.

Watching through all of Mendoza's dropbacks, there's plenty to like. On his second throw of the game, for example, he's able to expertly find his man in the open zone for a big game. He also had a couple of throws that were on target, but that were dropped by his receivers, which made his overall numbers look a little worse they might have otherwise.

Overall, this was a really uneven showing from Mendoza, but the Raiders shouldn't be disheartened by that. They have one good and one bad-ish performance from him through two preseason games, and the team should definitely care more about the good game at this point. The big mistake he made on Thursday was definitely a big one, but you'd rather he make that now so that he can learn from it than he make it in a regular-season game.

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