How Raiders' Week 10 Contest Filled With Full-Circle Moments

The Las Vegas Raiders will face the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. The matchup pits a rebuilding Raiders team against a Seahawks team with playoff aspirations. Las Vegas' Week 10 matchup against Seattle gives the Raiders a chance to do several things they have not done this season.

Most notably, Sunday's matchup against the Seahawks gives Las Vegas a chance to beat a team with a winning record for the first time this season. Their recent quarterback change makes Sunday an important day regardless of who wins or loses.

Las Vegas peaked as a team this season with Kirk Cousins under center. After trading Cousins at the deadline, the Raiders will move forward with a rookie signal caller. That will present its own set of challenges, but it could also be the spark the Raiders' offense needs to get going earlier in games.

Big Sunday Ahead

After Las Vegas hired Kubiak, the first-time head coach wasted no time filling out his coaching staff. One key addition was offensive coordinator Andrew Janocko. Both have been tasked with jumpstarting the Raiders' offense, which has been dormant for years.

An impressive run that ended with a Super Bowl victory landed both Kubiak and Janocko in Las Vegas in elevated roles. Ahead of Sunday's matchup against the Seahawks, Janocko echoed Kubiak's sentiment.

“It’s easy because the more experience you have in the NFL, the more you treat them all the same, and it’s going to be an important game because it’s the next game for us. Obviously, see a lot of people with a lot of extremely strong bonds that I’ll have forever that I’m so grateful to see and say hello to, and then it’s game time,” Janocko said on Friday.

“My favorite part of game day is just seeing the players go out there and put their bodies on the line and play with each other. I know that is a part of the game but just see things that you’ve worked on come to life in the game. See guys battle through adversity, that’s the joy of getting to be on the sidelines and coaching.”

Full Circle

Janocko elaborated, noting that although the Raiders will face the team that Kubiak and Janocko helped win a Super Bowl, this Sunday will be about keeping things as regular as possible in a game that will go down as anything but.

“It’s a big one because it’s the next one. You understand that. I mean, there’s a lot of emotions this week, whether it be that, but we have a job to do, and that’s the job to do this week," Janocko said earlier this week.

"So whatever emotion you have, you put that aside, because they’re doing the same thing, and we’ll hug and stuff after the game and everything. But kind of let everybody else deal with that, and we just go about our business."

Las Vegas facing Kubiak's old team is the ultimate full-circle moment. But that moment arriving also being when Mendoza starts his first career game is hard to ignore. The Raiders' coaching staff is right to downplay the day's significance to the players.

Yet far too many notable moments are already set to happen on Sunday to deny the day's significance. Week 10 is just another game; however, it isn't. Kubiak's first game with the No. 1 overall pick leading the way against his former team is a big deal, no matter how Kubiak slices it.

After sitting for the first half of the season, Mendoza is as ready as he can possibly get without actually getting on the field. Las Vegas' coaching staff has done a solid job of giving the rookie a grace period. Sunday finally puts Mendoza on the field and puts all the hypotheticals to rest.

“I believe in the principles in the quarterback room that Coach [Andrew] Janocko, Coach [Klint] Kubiak, and Coach [Mike] Sullivan always preface is you’re always one play away, always be prepared. And Kirk [Cousins] was a great example and leader of that on how to be prepared and how to make no moment too big. And so those are all lessons that I believe Aidan [O’Connell] and I will take into this next chapter.”

Add us as a preferred source on Google