Fernando Mendoza Welcome To Las Vegas

[Sold My Soul]

Call your shot....or add your own.

Dante Moore:

https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Dante-Moore-QB-UCLA

Fernando Mendoza:

https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Fer ... California

May the football godz look kindly down upon the feeble and inept.

[16 to 88]

I don't care at all if Cousins starts the season for the Raiders. I will be extremely disappointed if Cousins plays the full season. Mendoza needs a lot of real game reps this year to be ready for 2027. IMO the only way Cousins should play the full season is if he and the team are playing really well and winning a lot of games - which is a very unlikely scenario in my view.

This exactly.

[pfish57]

I'm well aware of that, and I don't expect everyone to be optimistic.

When it comes to the Raiders I've always found being a realist vs an optimist saves you a lot of grief & disappointment.

[16 to 88]

I don't know about our defense being top 10 but I suspect our defense is going to be night and day compared to last year. I'll go with close to top 10.

[raidersince63]

When it comes to the Raiders I've always found being a realist vs an optimist saves you a lot of grief & disappointment.

Well, you have your world, I have mine.

[pfish57]

I don't know about our defense being top 10 but I suspect our defense is going to be night and day compared to last year. I'll go with close to top 10.

What exactly about Leonard & our D makes you think they will be close to a top 10 D lol

[raidersince63]

I don't know about our defense being top 10 but I suspect our defense is going to be night and day compared to last year. I'll go with close to top 10.

I'd be shickled titless with a top 10 D.

They actually were not bad last year. The offense was so bad it kept our D on the field much longer which skewed some stats.

"The Las Vegas Raiders finished the 2025 NFL season ranked 16th overall in defensive DVOA. Depending on the specific metric tracked, they ranked 13th in total yards allowed (317.8 per game) and 25th in scoring defense, allowing an average of 25.4 points per game."

AI
"During the 2025 NFL regular season, the Las Vegas Raiders defense spent the most time on the field.The Raiders' offense controlled the football for a league-lowest 476 minutes and 49 seconds (an average of just 27 minutes and 52 seconds per game), meaning their defensive unit was forced to absorb the highest overall time of possession in the league."

[Opoponax50]

I haven't been this excited to start a season for a long time.
Last Head Coach I was this excited about was Gruden the 1st time around. That was 25 years ago. Didn't like bringing him back and was never hyped about any of the others since then.
Last QB I was hyped about was Carr after his rookie preseason. That only lasted a few years.
Great to be Hyped about the Coach and QB at the same time.

Same here. Since Gruden 1.0 my attitude towards every single hire has been a "Well, I guess we'll see." And what we saw was one terrible failure after the next.

Kubiak gives us a decent reason to be optimistic in over a quarter century.

[rich72]

The last time the Raiders had a top 10 D was 2002...24 Longggg years ago under non other than Chuck Bresnahan lol I Don't see this year being much better than last year to be honest.

We brought in some pretty good defense players, I think we will be in the 10-12 range for defense.

[pfish57]

We brought in some pretty good defense players, I think we will be in the 10-12 range for defense.

Time will tell...I think the whole season hinges on coaching which we haven't had in 25 years.

[FLORIDARAYDAH]

We brought in some pretty good defense players, I think we will be in the 10-12 range for defense.

The 15 to 18 range will be huge IMO. I like a lot of the pieces brought in but a lot of huge ? remain. I will believe it when I see it. I do feel we will be better all around though. Not sure it translates to wins yet

[Xramfan]

Same here. Since Gruden 1.0 my attitude towards every single hire has been a "Well, I guess we'll see." And what we saw was one terrible failure after the next.

Kubiak gives us a decent reason to be optimistic in over a quarter century.

Im old enough to remember when the niners hired Bill Walsh that I felt he was going to turn them around. (My dad helped with that opinion as I was young)

I have the same feeling right now with Kubiak. I think he is the real deal.

Admittedly my "hopium" was the same for Pete Carroll because of his resume but it wasn't to be. I truly feel like Kubiak is what we have been waiting for.

[rich72]

Im old enough to remember when the niners hired Bill Walsh that I felt he was going to turn them around. (My dad helped with that opinion as I was young)

I have the same feeling right now with Kubiak. I think he is the real deal.

Admittedly my "hopium" was the same for Pete Carroll because of his resume but it wasn't to be. I truly feel like Kubiak is what we have been waiting for.

Yeah but in fairness, none of us knew he was senile. Kubiak at least isnt senile, although he doesnt have any head coaching experience. So we wont know until the regular season, we will probably know early on also because we have a rough patch early after Miami and the Saints.

[powski]

The 15 to 18 range will be huge IMO. I like a lot of the pieces brought in but a lot of huge ? remain. I will believe it when I see it. I do feel we will be better all around though. Not sure it translates to wins yet

"15 to 18" will be huge? We were 16th in DVOA last year while being on the field constantly due to that putrid offense. 7th most tackles for loss in a season. 2nd in rushing ypc. 10th in yards per play.
Not every stat was good, but not overall bad in context at the very least.
And it looks like we have improved in the off-season on defense, but also on offense which helps too.
Sniffing near the the top 10, say 12 is what Im reasonably hoping for at least.

[DanKD]

Kubiak appears to have the work ethic and tone. He obviously needs to walk the line in being respected and maintain positive relationships with his players.

[FLORIDARAYDAH]

"15 to 18" will be huge? We were 16th in DVOA last year while being on the field constantly due to that putrid offense. 7th most tackles for loss in a season. 2nd in rushing ypc. 10th in yards per play.
Not every stat was good, but not overall bad in context at the very least.
And it looks like we have improved in the off-season on defense, but also on offense which helps too.
Sniffing near the the top 10, say 12 is what Im reasonably hoping for at least.

We were so far behind at halftime most teams just ran up the gut working the clock. The D was awful. If you think last years D was in the top half of the NFL we can just agree to disagree. I think it will be better this season but nothing special. Middle of the pack is a big step IMO