The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.Good morning! Be mad about a win today. Coming up:
While You Were Sleeping: The No. 1 pick might be goodWhat an evening of mostly meaningless football we enjoyed last night. I, for one, was simply happy to have multiple games’ highlights to watch late into the evening. It was comforting.There was plenty of meaning in Las Vegas last night, though, as No. 1 draft pick Fernando Mendoza saw his first NFL action. And the dude was uncorking throws like this (video pause is for emphasis):
Fernando Mendoza threading the needle!
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/PC9UPZvRxA
— NFL (@NFL) August 14, 2026Mendoza threw a touchdown later in the game and generally looked sharp. It’s easy to wonder when he starts this year, with all apologies to Kirk Cousins, who looked great in his one drive last night.More on Mendoza’s debut here. Let’s keep moving:News to KnowEmilee Chinn / Getty ImagesIn Iowa, corny Schwarbombs
