Patrick Mahomes Sends Clear Message to Fernando Mendoza After Raiders Loss

Mahomes is now 14-2 against the Raiders. Kirk Cousins wasn’t the reason Las Vegas lost. He played a solid game despite facing consistent pressure throughout.

Even with a loss, the calls to start No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza are quiet right now. Many teams start their first-round pick quarterbacks from the jump, but Mahomes had to wait a year behind Alex Smith before he became the full-time starter.

That clearly worked out for him, as he’s won three Super Bowls and two MVP awards. After the win, Mahomes was asked about the dynamic between Mendoza and Cousins. He’s hoping Mendoza isn’t too good, but he’s thinking this is a good situation for the rookie quarterback to be in.

“It’s going to do a lot of great things for him, Kirk is a true pro—it’ll be great for Fernando to learn and just take in,” Mahomes said of the dynamic between Kirk Cousins and Mendoza in his postgame press conference. “… Hopefully not too much, it went really well for me and Alex, maybe not that much unless I’m gone, or something like that.”

The Raiders are in no rush to play Mendoza, especially with how Cousins is playing. The veteran quarterback has 11 touchdown passes on the season, which is tied for the NFL lead.

Even though he’s 38 and can’t move as he used to, Cousins was running around the field making plays for the Raiders in Week 4. He has an excellent grasp of Kubiak’s offense.

At this rate, Cousins can’t be ruled out as a sneaky MVP candidate. The Raiders had the worst team in the NFL last season, so if he can keep playing well and the team gets to the playoffs, he deserves some recognition for that. At the very least, he should feel comfortable about not losing his starting job anytime soon.

The Raiders-Chiefs rivalry could have some more juice going forward than it has had in years. Las Vegas appears to be building something.

Defensive end Maxx Crosby has been a part of this rivalry for a long time and was clearly frustrated with how the defense was playing at the end. That didn’t stop him from playing his hardest. Mahomes had high praise for Crosby after the game.

“He’s going to go hard the whole time,” Mahomes said of Crosby. “He tackling he’s getting the hits, but I’m going to hop back up, and he helped me back up a few times just like I would if I saw him in that position. Ton of respect there. That’s a good team and he’s the leader of them. Expecting more battles.”

The Raiders will get another chance to beat the Chiefs later in the season, but they’ll have to improve quite a bit and not give up so many explosive plays throughout the game.

Austin Boyd has covered the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Lakers for Heavy.com since 2019. A Los Angeles native now based in Las Vegas, his featured work at Heavy includes interviews with NFL stars Darren Waller and Joe Montana, and a behind-the-scenes look at “The Shop.” More about Austin Boyd