Silver And Black Pride
After diving into Fernando Mendoza’s first game at Indiana against Old Dominion, up next in the Las Vegas Raiders’ Mendoza Mania series is the 2026 NFL draft No. 1 pick’s Week 2 performance against Kennesaw State.
In the season opener, the Cal transfer looked like a quarterback who was still learning a new offense and building chemistry with a new set of teammates. While he didn’t play poorly by any means, it was far from the Heisman Trophy winner’s best performance of a fantastic season. But Mendoza bounced back quickly, as the game against Kennesaw was his first impressive outing for the Hoosiers.
He completed 18 of 25 passes (72.0 percent) for 245 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions in the tune-up game against the Owls, showing much improved chemistry with his receivers than the week before.
Mendoza’s timing with his wideouts was off in the season opener, but that changed rather quickly as he was throwing with much better anticipation in Week 2.
On this play, the defense shows Cover 4 or quarters pre-snap, with a two-high look where the safeties and outside cornerbacks are all lined up at about the same depth, give or take a yard or two. However, they rotate into Cover 3, where the boundary safety moves to the middle of the field, while the field safety stays at about the same depth and the cornerbacks bail post snap.
Meanwhile, Mendoza starts his read to the short side of the field but quickly moves off of it since the defense has that covered with three defenders to take care of two receivers on shorter routes. So, he works to the other side of his progression and decides to take a gamble.
With the curl-to-flat defender staying deep, it’s going to take a perfect throw to connect on the deep curl route, where the pass has to be on time and in the right spot to prevent the defender from making a play on the ball for a PBU or interception.
Luckily, Mendoza throws with excellent anticipation by starting his motion before the receiver is out of his break, and the ball is perfectly layered where the defender can’t get to it, but the receiver can rise up to make the catch for a first down and roughly 15-yard gain.
To be honest, this is a throw or risk the No. 1 pick should probably avoid in the NFL, with the major increase in competition. No offense to the Owls, but that isn’t exactly Derwin James Jr. trying to make a play on the ball.
However, the big takeaway here is the improvement in Mendoza’s anticipation after just one week, on top of the ball placement and arm strength to get the job done. The latter wasn’t even mentioned above, but this is an NFL-level throw, going from the far hash to between the numbers and opposite hashmark down the field.
Here’s another example of much improved timing and anticipation, just with a much simpler...
