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.

[Xramfan]

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.

I’ll be judging on the “eye test”.

I want a well coached team that feels like is turning the corner.

[16 to 88]

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

To be clearer, when I state close to top 10 seeing that there are 32 teams in the league, what that means to me would be from, say, from 13 on up? That would mean 19 other defenses below us, to me at least that sounds about right. And I also mean in yardage not points allowed. I know there are those that want to argue points allowed are what defenses should be measured by but to my knowledge it has never been used statistically when rating defenses.

I should also add this is based upon us staying generally healthy. If by seasons end it's a mash until out there I wouldn't expect us to be anywhere near the top 10. Yes, it is a big leap for the defense, to this I'm reconciled especially seeing our schedule competition wise is brutal. To say I'm going out on a limb with this one is an understatement.

I do so based on Kubiak and Leonard. Our offense was atrocious last year with a defensive minded coach but now it's the opposite. My hopes rest in part with the offense improving by leaps and bounds. We were dead last in offense last year, 32nd in rushing and 28th in passing. Keeping possession of the ball especially in the running game and turning us into a team to be dealt with regarding the run will be crucial. That is in part a defenses best friend as it keeps our defense fresh and not gassed all the time and off the field (important).

The defense also has way more experience than our offense player wise, and, if we can hold up well against the run, a huge point of emphasis by Kubiak, it will force offenses to throw and with Maxx back in the fold along with all our other additions like Paye, Dean, Johnson, Jones and Walker, guys that weren't even here last year, it seems to me we improved on that side of the ball. If Crosby was not back I would be singing another tune.

And this doesn't even take into account a guy like Koonce who hopefully is healed and back to what he was before the injury. It's going to be a new look defense that is for sure as they added rookie wise Stukes, Crawford, McCoy, Johnson, Masses, and Cleveland. Obviously, not everyone will stick but from where I'm sitting it sure has the feel of the organizations attempt to leave no stone unturned.

[Atlasffa]

Gruden likes Kirk as a mentor for FM.

[Attyla]

Gruden likes Kirk as a mentor for FM.

We are f[raiders_icon]cked

[Reno Hightower]

I dunno about Gruden. Loved him earlier in his career but he has morphed into an amalgamation of Jim Rome and Jim Mora Jr.

[BoKnows81]

Yea, anything Gruden says, do or believe the opposite.

[Attyla]

Yea, anything Gruden says, do or believe the opposite.

Especially at QB

[powski]

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

I dont disagree much. Im just talking DVOA and that I would have expected much worse based on the roster then and the context. Hopefully this year is a different, better story. Better then mid Im hoping, a little bit. At least high middle wouldn't be a stretch imo.

[16 to 88]

We are f[raiders_icon]cked

Nah, he says this about every quarterback. PC, how good this guy is blah,blah, nauseating blah. Same goes with the announcers in the booth. Guy makes one good play and it’s wow what a bright career he has in front of him.

[mstrbass2000]

I dunno about Gruden. Loved him earlier in his career but he has morphed into an amalgamation of Jim Rome and Jim Mora Jr.

i still watch him, still entertaining and some what informative but that doesn't mean im believing anything he says

[mstrbass2000]

Nah, he says this about every quarterback. PC, how good this guy is blah,blah, nauseating blah. Same goes with the announcers in the booth. Guy makes one good play and it’s wow what a bright career he has in front of him.

he is basically a tv personality now

[16 to 88]

he is basically a tv personality now

Overbearing, swaggering, narcissistic, tin plated dictator with delusions of godhood.

[powski]

Overbearing, swaggering, narcissistic, tin plated dictator with delusions of godhood.

He really leaned/leans into his "Chucky" the wild meathead public image. Made money doing it, but the shine wore off long ago and is now generally considered more of a character than a good former coach. I liked him his first time with the Raiders though.

[SkullCrusher]

He really leaned/leans into his "Chucky" the wild meathead public image.

It's made him millions.
Even thought I'm not a huge Gruden 2.0'er, he was inching us forward as a better team.
After the season in which he was banned the wheels fell off. Would he have thwarted that and still inched forward?

Perhaps, that could also mean Carr is still here and no Mendoza, so it takes a LOT of bad things to happen to get a Franchise QB.

[FLORIDARAYDAH]

It's made him millions.
Even thought I'm not a huge Gruden 2.0'er, he was inching us forward as a better team.
After the season in which he was banned the wheels fell off. Would he have thwarted that and still inched forward?

Perhaps, that could also mean Carr is still here and no Mendoza, so it takes a LOT of bad things to happen to get a Franchise QB.

The team played better when he left mid season.