Raiderstation

Training wheels come off, it is time to make this a reality.

Welcome to the NFL Mendoza, and welcome to being the leader of the Raiders Klint Kubiak. Let's get this thing going. And yea, as always, I sipped the Koolaid.

There were some positives.
The starting o-line looks much improved. The biggest thing I was looking for. That 1st march down the field was a thing of beauty, nice mix of run & pass. Cousins and Mendoza both looked good. Jeanty and Washington are going to be a great duo I suspect. Throw Bowers in there and this offense will be just fine I think.

On D, it looked more like evaluation than trying to win, which is what these games are for. We finally have some legit LBs. I'll say though, more push up the middle would work wonders for this defense. Vita Vea. Sign that guy.

I think some of the knee jerk reaction to McCoy on defense is unjustified. Two years removed from football after being kid gloved through camp I am not sure what some were expecting. And some of the reactions were absolute shit. We have zero knowledge of what the player will be given that amount of time off. Hell, it is brutally hard for a NFL player to come back after that amount of time. Imagine taking that amount of time out of the game and then going from college to the pros. That is going to take time and most of the sane people around here would know that.

Mendoza looked very good to me, poised in the pocket, passed with anticipation especially on that td pass and he didn't take unnecessary risks. Very mature effort, has a much better arm that Cousins. Defense was atrocious especially the 1st half don't care if it was vanilla they looked unprepared at all levels. Alot of unwarranted hype around Robbie Lenard, its still early but this was a bad first impression.

tatalalicious wrote: Fri Aug 14, 2026 6:27 am Mendoza looked very good to me, poised in the pocket, passed with anticipation especially on that td pass and he didn't take unnecessary risks. Very mature effort, has a much better arm that Cousins. Defense was atrocious especially the 1st half don't care if it was vanilla they looked unprepared at all levels. Alot of unwarranted hype around Robbie Lenard, its still early but this was a bad first impression.

I don't think he got unwarranted hype. I think most were of the opinion that he deserved his chance. He is getting his chance and now the work begins. He got his bad outing over with. It is how he responds that matters

Arizona already had a game under their belt, we looked caught off guard in the 2ndary, even though some of it were just good throws. Stokes and Johnson messed up but I still like them. Secondary can improve a lot but theyll still be the last piece of the Defense to come together. Almost all rookies and 2nd year guys.
With Maxx, Dean, and more starters in they aren't going to have all day. Still, it was a good vanilla test and they failed.

ELCAraiderfan wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2026 6:02 pm I'm really starting to like Bech! Kid has got some hands on him

excellent throw by FM low and hot

...I've had a feeling for a while that bech and Mayer could be important pieces in this offense, and was why i've been against trading Mayer for a sack of beans, every time that subject has come up. 2 tight ends that can catch.... ...bech was an after thought in that rancid chipper offense, which I never understood, but it looks like he has made the best of his time getting himself NFL ready....

Reno Hightower wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2026 8:24 pm Great to be watching football again. Mendoza looks good in the silver and black.

kid looks good, just needs more time on the field i woul have loved seeing him play in the 4th just to see if he could bring us back from the loss but instead we got aoc throwing bricks

powski wrote: Fri Aug 14, 2026 5:38 am I especially liked that Mendoza didn't get happy feet when the pocket got congested. That isnt everything, but its something that if you have (early panic, happy feet tendencies) its hard to change, and is very bad.

kid looked very poised and was throwing darts down the middle a few of his passes should have been caught and the last play in the endzone should have been a td

what a waste of a 4th qtr letting blockhead aoc play,,,dudes garbage

tatalalicious wrote: Fri Aug 14, 2026 6:27 am Mendoza looked very good to me, poised in the pocket, passed with anticipation especially on that td pass and he didn't take unnecessary risks. Very mature effort, has a much better arm that Cousins. Defense was atrocious especially the 1st half don't care if it was vanilla they looked unprepared at all levels. Alot of unwarranted hype around Robbie Lenard, its still early but this was a bad first impression.

agreed fernando looked very good and poised in the pocket, needs more playing time

Opoponax50 wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2026 11:21 pm This^.

It's not just the offense that needs fixing. When the scariest types of situations are 3rd and 12 and you're biting your fingernails over whether or not the D is going to be able get off the field, it says something----something really bad about the D.

Right now we're running a 3-4 defense with 4-3 personnel.

Besides, it's reasonable to think we're going to be running something more complex than a Tecmo Bowl defense when the season starts.

I don’t think the “it was vanilla” covers the bad play from the defense tbh. The bigger problems were communication or technique related.

In run defense, saw too many players in the same gap, too many players freelancing their assignments.

The secondary — same story as ever, sticky coverage but 0 skills at the top of the route.

Will a better defensive scheme put better personnel on the field? Yes. Will the coverage schemes be more exotic, and more difficult to read? Yes.

But it won’t fix two players in the same gap. It won’t fix getting boxed out at the point of the catch.

I have a feeling Leonard is going to be the sacrificial lamb offered to the Football Gods

Attyla wrote: Fri Aug 14, 2026 6:32 am I don't think he got unwarranted hype. I think most were of the opinion that he deserved his chance. He is getting his chance and now the work begins. He got his bad outing over with. It is how he responds that matters

Of all the coaching hires, this one stuck out to me as being the weakest given the lack of experience compared to all the other hires. I figured it was the best of limited options available as Kubiak's hire was delayed due to the SB. We'll see it was only his first game, but yeah bad first impression.

tatalalicious wrote: Fri Aug 14, 2026 7:15 am Of all the coaching hires, this one stuck out to me as being the weakest given the lack of experience compared to all the other hires. I figured it was the best of limited options available as Kubiak's hire was delayed due to the SB. We'll see it was only his first game, but yeah bad first impression.

I agree that the hire was probably a factor as the market thinned out quite quickly. We shall see how he responds

mike washington is gonna be a threat