The quarterback competition in Las Vegas is ongoing between veteran QB Kirk Cousins and rookie Fernando Mendoza, but it looks like head coach Klint Kubiak just spilled the beans on who the team is leaning towards.

“Kirk’s been getting the reps with the ones. I think he’s had a solid training camp, and you know it’s his job to lose,” Kubiak told reporters after the Raiders’ preseason opener.

The Raiders hosted the Arizona Cardinals at Allegiant Stadium on Thursday night, with Las Vegas losing 27-14.

Cousins played only the opening drive, which ended with a touchdown after he threw a 13-yard pass to tight end Michael Mayer. Still, the starting job appears to be reserved for him, as the Raiders are focused on developing Mendoza and preparing him for the future.

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Veteran Kirk Cousins completed five of his six passes for 50 yards and one touchdown. Meanwhile, Mendoza showed flashes of his first-overall-pick potential, completing 10 of 16 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown.

At first, Mendoza had two incompletions, and Las Vegas was forced to punt. However, he settled down and later threw a six-yard touchdown pass to running back Mike Washington Jr.

“He led a good scoring drive,” Kubiak said of Mendoza. “As far as getting and out of the huddle, commanding the group, getting the play calls down, I saw the same guy I see in practice. I saw an ascending player who’s got to keep getting better.”

Mendoza was pressured on 38.9% of his dropbacks and was sacked once. The pressure affected his rhythm at times and showed that he still needs to improve his pocket awareness as he adjusts to the speed and physicality of the NFL.

“There’ll be some good lessons that we look forward to attacking with the tape with him. He knows he can’t take a sack, and but those are things he’s going to grow from,” Kubiak added.

Even though there have been plenty of positive reactions to how the rookie quarterback handled his first professional game, Mendoza was not entirely impressed with himself. He knows he still has an uphill battle if he wants to win the competition.

“Unfortunately, I let my teammates down today,” Mendoza said. “But it’s a growing experience. I feel like we’re all growing, and it showed me that I need to grow a lot.”

However, Cousins, who is expected to take the QB1 spot in the regular-season opener, complimented Mendoza on his performance.

“He did a great job,” Cousins said. “He moved the football, he scored points, gave us a chance to score points, and operated well.”

For now, the starting job remains with Cousins. The veteran has worked with the first-team offense throughout training camp, and Kubiak appears comfortable with him leading the team.

However, we will get to see more of Mendoza during the next preseason games, as the head coach has already said the team wants to give the rookie plenty of reps in the preseason.