Ideally you would like for Fernando Mendoza to make his NFL debut because he had proven he was ready to begin his career as the team's franchise QB. Maybe at home in front of a roaring crowd. That's the dream, right? Well, sometimes the story goes much different than that and is far from ideal.
It was not the ideal circumstance for the Raiders top pick QB. He entered the game for the Raiders in the final minutes of a 45-17 blowout loss on the road in New England. In what is more of a side note than anything.
Mendoza entered the game with six minutes remaining, and absolutely nothing but clock to run. The offense started at their own 37 and drove to the New England 14. The final play coming on fourth and four with Mendoza scrambling for three yards,
stopped shy of the sticks for a turnover on downs.
“I just wanted to give him some exposure," Kubiak said of putting Mendoza in the game. “All reps are valuable, very, very important for him.”
Kubiak was sure to point out that Mendoza's introduction was not a sign he would be making a quarterback change anytime soon.
Starter Kirk Cousins had been playing quite well over the first four weeks of the season, including leading the league in touchdown passes (11). He had another TD pass in this game, but overall had his roughest outing of the season, completing 19 of 28 passes for 243 yards while getting sacked three times.
Mendoza finished going 6/8 for 48 yards.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders QB Fernando Mendoza makes NFL debut Week 5 in blowout loss
