I'm thrilled with how he played in the first half but is it just me or does he go through his progressions and play action really slow?

I was hugely impressed with Mendoza.
I don't know what his career will be like but I just kept thinking NFL today.

The incompletion that was intended for our RB as a late dump over the line showed quick mental and bravery to jump for a smidge of extra time despite getting hit. That was my favorite intangible.

Dude was throwing dimes today!

Mendoza's performance can easily be correlated to the performance of our offensive line. I disclose that I am not a football expert but it appeared to me that as the game progressed the Auburn defensive coaches realized at some point that they had enough strength to avoid over defending the Cal running game and play more pass protection. Mendoza and any other quarterback are going to perform better when there aren't people in his face and his receivers are getting tighter coverage. That's what it looked like to me.

RedlessWardrobe said:

---

Mendoza's performance can easily be correlated to the performance of our offensive line. I disclose that I am not a football expert but it appeared to me that as the game progressed the Auburn defensive coaches realized at some point that they had enough strength to avoid over defending the Cal running game and play more pass protection. Mendoza and any other quarterback are going to perform better when there aren't people in his face and his receivers are getting tighter coverage. That's what it looked like to me.

---

Seemed to me they adjusted by overloading different sides of our OL and ensuring that Mendoza had to get rid of the ball faster and make more decisions under pressure. I'd like to see our passing statistics broken down by distance across each of left, center, and right side of the field. It felt like we kept most passes short and took what they gave us until they didn't give us as much in the second half.

He will be playing on Sundays. Mark Davis would take him now over the two stiffs he has. Mike Pawlawski
heaped praise on him by the wheel barrow and that's good enough for me.

https://bearinsider.com/forums/2/topics/117227

I don't agree that he goes slowly. through progressions. I think he reads patiently and has the focus and physical courage to continue to go through progressions under pressure, right up to the last second before he must throw. He extends his progression in the face of pressure beyond the point most QBs would either have run, thrown the ball away, or made a panicky pass.

He's gonna get training camp/practice squad shots at the bare minimum, if not work his way up into a decent pick.

He made a bunch of smart, confident & accurate throws yesterday, had a couple of truly impressive ones (Brady on the sideline while getting hit, the first Hunter TD where he read the pre-snap coverage and dropped a perfect dime without hesitation) and showed much better pocket awareness than last year.

If he keeps growing, stays consistent, and puts together a good year of tape, I wouldn't be shocked to see him garner some real 2025 draft attention since the QB class isn't exactly loaded.

84.8 total adjusted QBR rating vs. Auburn. 16th best rating in the country for Week 2. Not too shabby.

Fred Bear said:

---

oregoncalbear said:

---

I'm thrilled with how he played in the first half but is it just me or does he go through his progressions and play action really slow?

---

Are you measuring him against QB's that will be future NFL draft picks or against past Cal QB's? I measure him against former Cal QB's and compared to those guys, most of whom locked in on their primary receiver and rarely looked much of anywhere else, he compares rather favorably.

The kid had very little support from his running game today and far from the cleanest pockets you will ever see, but he still made it work.

---

Compared to Aaron Rodgers or Jared Goff? Yes, he's slow. Compared to everyone else Cal has played at QB since then? Not bad at all.

Dsycasey said:

---

Compared to Aaron Rodgers or Jared Goff? Yes, he's slow. Compared to everyone else Cal has played at QB since then? Not bad at all.

---

Dude's a sophomore…

Go!Bears said:

---

Dsycasey said:

---

Compared to Aaron Rodgers or Jared Goff? Yes, he's slow. Compared to everyone else Cal has played at QB since then? Not bad at all.

---

Dude's a sophomore…

---

Rodgers was already a stud at that point. And yes, that's a very tough comparison but that's also my point.

concordtom said:

---

I was hugely impressed with Mendoza.
I don't know what his career will be like but I just kept thinking NFL today.

The incompletion that was intended for our RB as a late dump over the line showed quick mental and bravery to jump for a smidge of extra time despite getting hit. That was my favorite intangible.

Dude was throwing dimes today!

---

Agree especially on the attempted jump pass to the
RB. It appeared that the RB was not expecting the pass and saw it only too late to make the catch

Our RB's have to play more heads up football. Expect the unexpected from Mendoza.

If that jump pass had been caught, there was a lot of open field ahead of the RB for a long gain

Maybe we need to do the middle screen more …