Unless a game is flexed at the end of the season, the Raiders will be left out of the primetime schedule for the first time in 10 years, and some believe the presence of Kirk Cousins had something to do with the league’s decision.
It’s no secret that the decision makers in Las Vegas want to ease Fernando Mendoza into the lineup and there are scenarios that could involve Cousins being the starter for the majority of the season.
For their part, the NFL would prefer to avoid a Cousins-led Raiders’ squad on primetime if they can avoid it – and obviously they can.
Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers talked about Mendoza’s timeframe to becoming the starter last week and he thinks the schedule offers a perfect opportunity for the Raiders to slide Mendoza into the starting lineup in December after the bye.
“I see that as the runway right there… Obviously, it’s going to be based off of the performance of what happens throughout the course of the year, and I know Raider Nation is probably going to want to see Fernando way before week 14. But I see that as a perfect segue from Kirk Cousins to Fernando Mendoza,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show podcast.
“Especially coming out of the bye, you have three games at home… The first three games out of that bye are all at home. And then, by the way, the fourth game is in Arizona. So that’s not very far either… I don’t like the bye week late. But in this scenario, because I’ve been so focused on when it was going to be to see if there was a perfect time for Fernando Mendoza to slide in, I think that that could be the ideal time. You can allow the offense to line to gel. You’re already through, you know, 12 games in 13 weeks,” Myers continued.
“At that point, that zone blocking scheme, if you ain’t going to have it down by then, you’re not going to have it down this season, right? And so your weapons should be all into the playbook and understand their roles. And obviously health plays a role as well. But I look at that, and if I had to put some money down, if I had to go to FanDuel right now, put some money down on when Fernando Mendoza plays, I say it’s coming out that bye week.”
The new coaching staff in Las Vegas has a lot to clean up from a year ago, and it will make a lot of sense to let the team navigate some of the inevitable bumps in the road with Cousins on the field.
For what it’s worth, if Mendoza starts his first game after the bye, his three opponents would be the Chargers (12/13), Broncos (12/20) and Titans (12/27) followed by a road game at the Cardinals (1/3) and season finale at the Chiefs.
x: @raidersbeat