news-engine

Fernando Mendoza debuts with Raiders first team in Texans joint practice HOUSTON – The Las Vegas Raiders offense got the chance to break the monotony of training camp by practicing against a different team on Tuesday. It just so happened to be one of the best defenses in the entire league. The result was a lot of teachable moments for coach Klint Kubiak as the Raiders struggled at times to move the ball in a joint practice against the Texans ahead of Thursday’s preseason game at Reliant Stadium. “I think we can get better,” Kubiak offered in his assessment of the competition. “I didn’t feel like we had a great day running the ball. Maybe I’m wrong when I go watch the tape, but that’s a special (defensive) front. I’m glad we got the reps against them and we get to do it again on Thursday night.” While it wasn’t completely one-sided and there is no official accounting of the action on the field, the judges’ scorecards would have almost certainly come out in favor of the Texans defense, which returned interceptions for touchdowns against both Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza while controlling the line of scrimmage. “We didn’t expect to be dominated,” Kubiak said of the offense holding its own at times. “I think our guys have a high standard, and you expect to win every rep. You expect to be a great team. You expect to compete. That’s the kind of guys that we have in our locker room. I think we could have even competed better. So, we’ve got lots to improve on.” The issues largely started up front as the Raiders much-improved offensive line struggled to open running lanes and had trouble slowing down the Texans vaunted pass rush. Cousins, the projected starting quarterback, believes that has to be a team effort. “I do think that on the edge, we kind of knew that this would be a good test for us,” he said. “I think we can also talk about how can we help them? How can I help them? Because it’s a tall task. Nobody really can just drop back and take seven-step drops play after play after play against any rush in the NFL, let alone these guys. So, we asked a lot of them today, and it’ll be really good film to go watch.” Cousins said he felt the receivers were doing a decent job fighting to get open, but there wasn’t always enough time for the quarterbacks to make a play. He was the only Raiders quarterback to throw a touchdown pass in any team drill on Tuesday when he found Brock Bowers down the middle in a red-zone drill. Otherwise, it was a pretty uneven day for an offense that failed to generate points in simulated two-minute situations. The day ended somewhat fittingly when Cousins took the team down the field in need of a touchdown to win the simulated game situation only to have a pass tipped before it was intercepted by Kamari Lassiter and returned down the sideline. “I felt like today was the reason why we come here,” Cousins said. “There’s going to be a lot to talk about, which is what you want coming back, watching the tape, being able to say, ‘Hey, this wasn’t good enough. I can be better here.’ So, a productive day. We probably would have liked to have finished a little stronger, but made some plays in the first few periods that we were pleased with, and we’ll keep building from here.” Here are some other observations about the offense from Thursday’s practice at the Texans’ team facility: Mendoza gets first-team reps: Tuesday marked the first time Mendoza got extended reps with the starting offense on a day when Cousins was practicing. While Cousins took the first snaps in every drill, he was coming off the field to allow Mendoza to play with offensive starters and against Houston’s defensive starters. Most of his reps still came with the second unit and against the Texans’ second unit, but the Raiders clearly intended to see how he would answer the challenge. “I wanted to see him going against the Texans’ ones,” Kubiak said. “That was our plan all along. I thought he did some good things. I look forward to watching the tape. He and his teammates, all these young guys that were playing, we got to get them up to speed real quick.” “I thought he had a really good practice. You can’t turn the ball over in the red zone, so it’s another lesson learned.” Kubiak was referencing a throw over the middle in a red-zone drill that was intended for Ashton Jeanty only to have Jalen Pitre step in front of it and return it the other way for a likely touchdown. It came two plays after Lassiter got his hands on another Mendoza throw he felt he should have intercepted in the end zone. Mendoza also had a spectacular throw to Bowers down the left sideline, but had an issue with a snap under center and a miscommunication on a handoff. It was the kind of highs and lows that have represented much of Mendoza’s first training camp. “(I was able to) go against (a top defense) and be able to get some reps with the ones against the superstars on their defense, and then obviously their twos are fantastic as well,” he said. “We got so much work. There’s so many situations and I believe overall it was a positive day. “I have so many things to learn from today.” Jackson Powers-Johnson doesn’t practice: Powers-Johnson, who is trying to hold off Caleb Rogers for the starting right guard spot, was with the team but in street clothes for Tuesday’s practice after leaving Monday’s session with the athletic training staff. Kubiak said he does not expect Powers-Johnson to play on Thursday. “He got banged up in practice yesterday,” Kubiak said. “We wanted to be cautious today, and we’ve got to keep evaluating him moving forward.” Wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. was able to work out with trainers on a side field, but was not in uniform and did not participate in practice. Washington keeps making impression: One of the few offensive players who was able to find some room was running back Mike Washington Jr., who had some success against the Texans backups after breaking off a big 53-yard run against the Cardinals last week. “I think you saw today what you see in practice,” Kubiak said. “Very few guys just rise to the occasion and become gamers. They have to show it to you in practice first. Mike has done it in practice. He’s done it in the game, and we’ve just got to keep challenging him and putting more on his shoulders.” Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.