Why the Raiders made Fernando Mendoza the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft

His answer surprised me.

“Although that [run against Miami] looks like the clear-cut answer, that would not be my answer either way, because I like throwing the ball more. I believe I’m a very efficient passer,” started the Indiana quarterback.

“I would say the play is not a play that’s been broadcast a lot. It was at the end of the third quarter, or start of the fourth quarter, I believe, against Iowa. I threw a seam route to Elijah Sarratt on the left side of the field.
I believe we’re in the minus-30 or minus-25 yard line,“ continued Mendoza.

“And it was just a great play, great connection, it was gritty all around, and that’s the play that I would use.”

Here is that play in question:

From where I sit, this play does sum up his profile rather well. This play comes late in the game with Iowa leading by three, and Indiana facing a 2nd-and-10 situation in their own territory. The Hawkeyes show two deep safeties before the snap, before rolling one down into the box and sliding into single-high coverage.

Mendoza reads it perfectly and rips the inside seam route against this single-high look, while staring down a free runner in his face.

There’s that competitive toughness again.

But before I moved on in the interview to the next topic, I asked Mendoza to take me through this play, and his process from snap-to-throw. That is when he walked me through his process on every play, using an acronym I was not expecting.

“PIMP.”

I’ll let him explain it to you.

“Yeah, my pre-stamp process is a vital part of my preparation, and a vital part of my success this year. I’ve always been able to, at the line, this past year, have a ‘PIMP,’” started the quarterback.

That stands for Protection, Intent, Mechanics, and Problems.

“Which means I always go over my protection first, so you know what your hot answers are. Am I gonna be hot off a defender? Who am I responsible for as a quarterback to make sure I can best serve my teammates, and either check the play, or make us in a positive play? Then the intent of the play, why are we calling this play?

“If it’s, you know, third down and two, I’m not gonna throw a go ball 70 yards down the field obviously, unless it’s open, but it’s probably not the intent of the play,“ described Mendoza.

“The mechanics of each play, which are the progression, the footwork, and the intricacies, technique-wise, that a quarterback needs to have, whether it’s, you know, checking it from one side, a nd whether it’s making it an audible, those are the mechanics that apply,” added the quarterback.

“And the last one are the problems.

“For example, if we have a pass play called, and it is awful against Cover 2, and I know my problems against Cover 2, we usually have a hot route, or a check that we can get out of.

“So the ‘PIMP’ is a process I had in college, and I look forward to whatever process my future coaching staff wants me to use, and best thinks that it can best serve our team in the NFL, I’m very open and very amicable to using that.”

With that ‘PIMP’ framework in mind, I want to return to a play from Mendoza that I loved before our conversation, and love even more now. It is this 3rd-and-2 snap from Indiana’s Big Ten Championship Game against Ohio State:

Again, I loved this play before I spoke with Mendoza, but now with the framework of his pre-snap process in place, I love it even more.

Let’s start with the protection. Indiana has a six-man protection scheme in place, the five linemen plus the running back. Before the snap the Buckeyes have six threats in the box, perhaps most notably Arvell Reese off the left tackle lurking. But with six in the protection scheme, Mendoza does not have any immediate threats.

What he will have to adjust to is an unexpected blitzer outside of those six threats, but that will have to be a post-snap adjustment. If Ohio State brings more than six, he’ll have to be “hot” off a blitzer, as he outlines above.

Next is the intent of the play. This is literally the “3rd-and-2” situation Mendoza talked about during our interview. Indiana needs to pick up the first down on this snap, which is why when the play begins, his eyes are going to fixate on the shallow crossing route from tight end Riley Nowakowski, the single receiver to the right side of the offense. That is the route he wants to throw, and the intent is to move the chains.

But remember what Mendoza told me Monday … “[i]f it’s, you know, third down and two, I’m not gonna throw a go ball 70 yards down the field obviously, unless it’s open, but it’s probably not the intent of the play.”

Up next, mechanics. Here is where Mendoza’s footwork and reads come into play. He wants to use a quick drop — he’ll use a three-step shotgun drop here — and get his eyes to the shallow crosser.

Finally, we get to the final piece of the puzzle: Problems.

Before the snap, Ohio State shows Mendoza several man-coverage indicators. For example, linebacker Sonny Styles is shaded across from the running back. The cornerback to the outside of the three-receiver side of the formation is in a man coverage alignment. There is a single safety deep.

But there is something else that Mendoza might be thinking about, which is a cornerback across from Nowakowski, the tight end. Ohio State has just two cornerbacks on the field, against three wide receivers. Are the Buckeyes really burning one of those CBs on a tight end?

No, they are not, and Mendoza confirms that after the snap when the “problem” arises here. The Buckeyes drop into a two-deep zone coverage, and it is Reese who drops off the line and right into the throwing lane on the crossing route, which is the intent of the play.

Here is what that looks like

So what does Mendoza do? He throws a deep shot over the middle of the field between the two deep defenders, an aggressive decision yes given the situation, but the right one.

And he gets to that read and throw in the blink of an eye.

That is what the Raiders are getting in Mendoza.