Troy Aikman shares his honest thoughts on Raiders' Fernando Mendoza

The Las Vegas Raiders and their fans just got another glimpse of the No. 1 pick.

With head coach Klint Kubiak giving Kirk Cousins the night off, Fernando Mendoza took the reins of the offense for the first half of the 22-20 win over the Houston Texans on Thursday.

Despite being on the road, the Indiana star wasn't rattled. He did throw a pick-six and was sacked once, but he showed great poise in the pocket for the most part. 

He finished the game with eight completions on 15 attempts for 86 yards and one interception. Despite the big mistake, he still earned Troy Aikman's praise.

Troy Aikman reacts to Fernando Mendoza's performance vs. Texans

“It’s hard to know from here whether he thought the back was going to stay stationary or if he just didn’t anticipate the linebacker being as fast as he is,” the legendary quarterback said of his pick-six. “Those are the things that he’ll get accustomed to as he gets more and more experienced.”

This is the right time to make mistakes. He's just learning the ropes as a pro, and he's adjusting to playing under center and to a new offense.

Even so, Aikman is impressed with his work ethic and demeanor, and he thinks he has the combination of skill and discipline that could help him become a superstar:

“But I am really impressed with him. As I said in the game, a lot of quarterbacks come into this league and you know they have all this ability, but you just don’t know what kind of leader they are, how important the game is to them, are they going to put in the time or do the little things,” added Aikman. “With him, you check every box and say if he doesn’t have success with his talent and his mindset of wanting to be great, I would say then, which is oftentimes the case, I’d say the organization failed him and didn’t get enough good players around him.”

First-overall picks always come with steep expectations, and Mendoza is not the exception to that rule.

At least, the Raiders are taking things one day at a time with him instead of just throwing him into the fire. They're spoon-feeding him little challenges and roadblocks to overcome, and he's done great so far.

There will be growing pains, but thus far, it's been much more good than bad.