By Tashan Reed, Chad Graff and Connor Ennis
Geno Smith completed 24 of 34 passes for 362 yards and a 26-yard touchdown pass to Tre Tucker, and the Las Vegas Raiders’ defense throttled the New England Patriots’ offense in a 20-13 win Sunday in Foxboro, Mass., giving coach Pete Carroll a victory in his return to the NFL.
The Patriots, looking to rebuild under first-year coach Mike Vrabel, were shut down in the second half. Drake Maye threw for 287 yards, but missed on some of his passes. And New England gained only 60 yards rushing.
Las Vegas trailed 10-7 at the half, but a three-yard touchdown run by Ashton Jeanty gave the Raiders the lead for good with 9:39 left in the third quarter. Daniel Carlson added two field goals, from 51 and 40 yards, giving Las Vegas all the points it would need. Andy Borregales kicked a 44-yard field goal with 19 seconds left to draw New England within a score, but it was too late for the Patriots.
Here are some key takeaways from the game.
Defense is the star for the Raiders
Expectations were understandably low for the Raiders’ defense coming into the season. They had serious question marks at all three levels of the unit — and that was before they lost starting middle linebacker Elandon Roberts to an elbow injury in the first quarter. Despite the pessimism surrounding defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s unit, they looked excellent against the Patriots on Sunday. They allowed just 13 points, surrendered just 4.9 yards per play and kept the game close as their offense worked to find its footing.
The second half was essentially flawless for the Raiders’ defense. They began the third quarter with an interception that led to a 71-yard touchdown drive that gave the Raiders a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The defense proceeded to force four consecutive punts before giving up a garbage-time field goal. While the status of Roberts will be something to monitor moving forward, that was about as inspiring a start as could be expected for the Raiders’ defense. — Tashan Reed, Raiders beat writer
Clutch when it mattered
It wasn’t a performance worth writing home about for the Raiders’ offense, but they came up with some clutch moments when it mattered most. While they entered the fourth quarter with a 17-10 lead, there was still plenty of room for them to let the game slip away if they failed to capitalize on the opportunities created by their defense.
On their first possession of the fourth quarter, the offense put together a 12-play, 66-yard drive that took nearly seven minutes off the game clock and ended in a field goal that made it a two-score game. And although the contest was already well in hand when they got the ball back up 20-10 with just 4:48 to go, quarterback Geno Smith left no doubt when he found receiver Dont’e Thornton on a 36-yard deep shot. While they went on to punt, they forced the Patriots to use their timeouts and burned valuable time off the clock. Ultimately, that helped ice the game. — Reed
Patriots come up short on offense
A Patriots offense that entered this season with a lot of hope after the bland and boring versions of previous years was, well, bland and boring.
New England was stuck in the mud for most of the second half and continued to lack explosive plays, a problem of recent years.
TreVeyon Henderson, the rookie running back who was supposed to bring some juice to the offense, was mostly contained, notching 51 yards on 11 touches (six of which were receptions).
The Patriots’ offense was left to mostly dink and dunk around the field, and got in big trouble whenever they got behind schedule. Drake Maye had some nice moments, but missed some easy passes, completing 30 of 46 for 287 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
The offense was never supposed to be the strength of this team, but this performance still wasn’t good enough. — Chad Graff, Patriots beat writer
Sloppy performance in Vrabel’s debut
On his first day on the job, Vrabel set a simple and reasonable goal for the Patriots — be able to take advantage of bad football.
One week into the season, it’s clear they’re not yet ready to do that.
The Raiders were far from perfect on Sunday. They botched their first-half two-minute drive. They committed nine penalties. They left some Patriots receivers wide open. They’re certainly not among the league’s elite.
Still, the Patriots weren’t able to take advantage.
This was just the first game of the first year of this rebooted rebuild overseen by Vrabel, but it’s clear the Pats have a long way to go to get back to being a team that competes in the playoffs.
It was all just … sloppy. The defense gave up chunk plays. The offense struggled to move the ball consistently. Special teams botched a field goal. The Raiders aren’t supposed to be some great team this season, but they came to Foxboro, Mass., and were undoubtedly the better team. — Graff
(Photo: Adam Glanzman / Getty Images)
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