Make California Post a Preferred Source The moment was bound to come. Fernando Mendoza made sure it came in his NFL debut Sunday, rambling 10 yards on a third and goal for his first NFL touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks at Allegiant Stadium.
Mendoza will surely throw many more touchdown passes than run them in – and he completed all three of his passes in his first drive – but his legs are an asset as he showed everyone on his first NFL score on a designed quarterback draw.
The question around the Raiders since April was how long everyone would have to wait to see the first overall pick in the NFL draft do his thing. As recently as a week ago, that was still very much up in the air.
Kirk Cousins started the first nine games for the Raiders, who brought in the veteran to give Mendoza time to learn his way around the NFL. Along the way, Mendoza found a mentor in his predecessor.
Then came Tuesday’s trade deadline and a deal that sent Cousins back to Minnesota and put the ball in the hands of the quarterback the Raiders selected with the first overall pick.
Mendoza had spent those nine weeks alongside Cousins in the quarterback room, preparing for opponents he would spend Sundays watching from the sideline.
His teammates got a much better look at him during the week, when the rookie from Indiana gave them reason to look forward to the day he got to keep the job.
It came with an interesting wrinkle for his head coach. Nine months ago, Klint Kubiak was calling plays for Seattle in a Super Bowl victory over New England.
On Sunday, the first touchdown pass of his rookie quarterback’s career came at the expense of the team that helped put Kubiak in position to coach him.
