The Las Vegas Raiders don't have a prime time game this season, and Mike North made some candid comments about why.
The Las Vegas Raiders have been in the headlines a lot lately for drafting quarterback Fernando Mendoza, so it got noticed when they weren’t included in any prime time games when the NFL did its splash schedule release this week. According to a report from Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk, however, these slots have to be earned, and not just via a good draft.
The specific comments Simmons used came from Mike North, the NFL VP of broadcast planning, who issues a series of quotes to Ryan McFadden of ESPN about Mendoza’s relative invisibility in big TV and streaming games this season.
“As far as the Raiders go, I mean, nobody knows if or when Mendoza might play,” North said. “It would certainly be great if we knew. We don’t. But they went out and signed a very competent veteran quarterback, and if they find themselves, you know, hovering around .500 and playoff-relevant in the middle of the season, they might be a little more reluctant to pull the trigger and move to the rookie.”
It’s a fairly candid quote coming from someone at North’s level, and it’s basically accurate. A lot of possible scenarios are in play with the Raiders this season, but they also went into the offseason with a bad roster that needs a lot of work.
The league would probably like nothing better than for the Raiders to be hovering in playoff contention at the end of October. At that point in the season the networks and streaming services are facing some upcoming bad games, and flex options that include what was once a marquee franchise would be welcome.
“And if they are playoff-relevant, they will find themselves flexed into bigger national television windows, whether it’s Sunday night, Monday night, or just a bigger footprint on a Sunday afternoon,” North added.
The broadcasting exec also offered a specific team comp, which was even more surprising. These kinds of quotes are usually as generic as possible, but Noah wasn’t shy about referencing a team facing an analogous situation last year.
“Not to point fingers, but I think the best comp is probably Tennessee from last year,” North offered. “They drafted No. 1 overall, took a quarterback who looks like he can play in this league, [and] they didn’t happen to get a national television appearance last year, either. … We don’t draft our way into primetime. We play our way into primetime.”
The league will probably know about this possibility fairly early, as will Raiders fans. The Raiders early schedule includes winnable games against the Miami Dolphins at home in Week 1, then a road trip to visit the New Orleans Saints shortly after that. If the Raiders come out of the sequence 2-2, the league will start watching more seriously, with flex possibilities coming into play.