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Fernando Mendoza continued to make his case for becoming the NFL’s most interesting interview on Thursday night.
During the fourth quarter of the Raiders’ 22-20 win over the Houston Texans in the team’s second preseason game, Mendoza joined ESPN’s Laura Rutledge for an interview. Play-by-play announcer Joe Buck segued to the interview by saying, “Hi, Laura! Hi, Fernando!”
The rookie quarterback made sure to greet Buck in return while being incredibly formal in doing so.
“Please tell Mr. Buck I say, ‘Hello.'” Mendoza said as the interview concluded with a salute to the camera.
The former Indiana star’s response drew a laugh from Rutledge, Buck and analyst Troy Aikman. Rutledge asked Mendoza why he didn’t greet Aikman the same way.
“Oh, of course,” Mendoza said. “I mean, he’s a legend. I think Mr. Buck needs some love, because Mr. Aikman is already, you know.”
The crew laughed through Mendoza’s response and then showered praise upon the No. 1 overall pick following another memorable interview.
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“You see, there it is. Back to Mr. Buck,” Buck said. “That’s the stuff. He is unique. And yeah, I’ll take that. We’ll take the love from Fernando Mendoza. And he says all the right things.”
“What a refreshing personality he is,” Aikman said.
The former Dallas Cowboys star called Mendoza easy to root for. Unfortunately for Mendoza, his second preseason start didn’t go as swimmingly as his first.
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On his second pass of the game, he threw an 80-yard pick-six to Texans fourth-round rookie linebacker Wade Woodaz. Mendoza, who played the first half, completed eight of his 15 passes for 86 yards and the aforementioned interception.
Thursday was the first time Mendoza seemed to endure some growing pains. Against the Arizona Cardinals last week in his first preseason game, he completed 10 of 16.
Despite Mendoza’s struggles on Thursday, Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak surprisingly declined to name Kirk Cousins the Week 1 starting quarterback. The Raiders’ preseason finale is against the San Francisco 49ers next Thursday.
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