Silver And Black Pride
We’re officially into the second half of Silver and Black Pride’s Mendoza Mania series, diving into every game from Fernando Mendoza’s last season at Indiana, breaking down film from his Week 10 outing against Maryland.
The Las Vegas Raiders’ new quarterback and No. 1 pick of the 2026 NFL draft didn’t have an eye-catching stat line, completing 14 of 21 pass attempts (66.7%) for 201 yards, a touchdown and one interception. Part of that had to do with a combination of drops, batted passes and him getting hit while throwing. It was also a result of the Hoosiers rushing for 367 yards and 7.1 yards per carry as a team.
Mendoza got involved in that action, too, recording four carries for 24 yards and another score on the ground, as he did a little bit of everything in this contest.
One habit that the Heisman Trophy winner needs to kick is that he’ll occassionally predetermine throws and trust his receiver to get open too much. It doesn’t happen every time; there were plenty of instances in this series where he did a great job of going through his reads. But he does have one or two throws a game where it looks like he’s assuming someone will be open who isn’t.
Here, Indiana runs a mesh concept while Maryland rotates into Cover 3. With the ball on the far hash and the slot receiver’s route taking him across the formation, Elijah Sarratt does have a one-on-one opportunity against the corner on the wide side of the field. So, Mendoza is likely assuming the receiver will win the matchup and is trying to throw the out route with anticipation.
However, the corner is playing with outside leverage to protect the sideline since all of his help is inside or to the middle of the field. That way the free safety and underneath defenders can squeeze or tighten the window on any in-breaking route, and the cornerback can take away the out route by forcing the receiver to win across his face. In other words, Sarratt isn’t open, and it’s time to move on to the second read.
The problem is that Mendoza stares down and throws to Sarratt anyway, while the corner jumps the route and is in perfect position to make the interception. Had the corner played with inside leverage or bailed instead of settling at the 45-yard line, this would have been a good read. But, obviously, that isn’t what happened, and it looks like the quarterback decided where he was going with the ball before it was even snapped.
This time, we’ll look at a simple incompletion, but one where Mendoza’s pocket management could use some work.
To be fair, the timing of this play is off. The quarterback hits the top of his drop, and none of the receivers are in their breaks or looking for the ball. That could be him having a mental mistake by not taking a deep enough drop in the pocket or...
