ESPN’s Jason McCourty Talks Raiders, Ravens, 49ers, Lions & More with Rich

Jason McCourty spent the morning on the show and had the evening booked in a New York studio, prepping the countdown show for Raiders versus Texans. His new Monday Night Countdown job was one day old. The quarterback he could not stop talking about was Fernando Mendoza.

Mendoza's first preseason outing showed McCourty things he had not seen in college. "Quarterback under center, going play-action, delivering a ball over the middle," McCourty said. "That's not an easy one to make. He did that." He watched Mendoza work his progressions from the left side of the field all the way over to the right, and scramble outside the pocket, and his verdict on the whole package was not subtle. "For Raiders fans, you should be fired up of what's to come for this guy."

The warts were in there too. Mendoza ran backwards in the pocket a couple of times, and he took a hit on the sideline. McCourty's hope is that experience sands those off.

What Mendoza sounds like at the podium does not move him one way or the other. Rich played the rookie's soundbite from his first joint-practice reps with the ones, including the line about plays he loved and plays he wished he had back, "but in reality, that's a lie. I wish I didn't have them back cuz it's a growing experience." McCourty, speaking as a defensive guy, said the locker room only cares about the work. "If you're a little quirky, you can be a little dorky, whatever the case may be, I don't care. If you can play that quarterback position and you can go out there and excel and help lift the guys around you, that's all that matters."

Week 1 is still Kirk Cousins in his estimation. "I think the Raiders will stick with the plan. They brought Kirk Cousins over there for a reason," McCourty said, pointing to how well Cousins played in the first preseason game, checking plays at the line the way a veteran does. The plan gets tested if Mendoza keeps playing well and Cousins is only okay at best. Start the year 0-2 or 0-3, McCourty said, and the rumblings begin, from media types and from fans chanting Mendoza's name in the stadium.

Rich pulled up the Raiders schedule looking for a soft landing spot and could not find one. Kansas City, at New England, Buffalo, the Rams. McCourty waved the whole exercise off. "Forget about the schedule," he said. "When you feel like he's at a point where he's ready to go and lead the team and be the starter, throw him in there. It doesn't matter if it's against the Denver Broncos or the Rams or whoever."

His Super Bowl pick is still cooking, in part because Houston just lost Higgins for the season and McCourty wants to see how Nick Caserio answers it. If C.J. Stroud plays the way he did as a rookie, Houston is on his short list.

On put one in, take one out, McCourty pulled the Pittsburgh Steelers out of the AFC field and slid the Baltimore Ravens in, which is exactly what Rich had done earlier in the week. "When you have a two-time MVP and a quarterback in Lamar Jackson who's still in his prime, I don't see him missing the playoffs in back-to-back years," McCourty said. He likes Jesse Minter calling the defense and is fascinated by Declan Doyle paired with Jackson. "Every time he's gotten a new OC, he's won an MVP."

The NFC took longer. McCourty put the Detroit Lions in, same as Rich, then sat with the harder half before landing on the San Francisco 49ers as the team going out. "I'm going to say the injuries get up to old age. I don't feel great about that," he said. "Everybody can't make it. It's just how it is."