The New England Patriots look to get their head above water for the first time in the regular season on Sunday. Coming off a 29-26 Week 4 road win over the Buffalo Bills, Drake Maye and company look to keep things in stride and advance to a 3-2 record with a home win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Raiders enter the matchup at 3-1 after a strong start, but a home loss to the Kansas City Chiefs may have stalled that surge. Still, the Raiders have done a lot of things right. Veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins has brought great stability to the position. He’s thrown for 1,026 yards and 11 touchdowns through four games. Defensively, they’ve recorded 12 sacks and 4 interceptions, creating a takeaway rate not seen in recent memory.

However, the Patriots could be going against the Raiders at the right time. With momentum in their corner after their win, the team looks to attack a sluggish Raiders run game. Rookie running back Ashton Jeanty is averaging just 3.4 yards per carry as he battles the lingering effects of an ankle injury he sustained in preseason. The Raiders also have some injuries piling up at the wide receiver position.

There will be some battles on the field, though. An evenly matched game between the two teams will look like this. As of this writing, Raiders tight end Brock Bowers had a limited practice on Wednesday but still seems to be a go for Sunday's game. He has thrived in the middle of the field on Cousins-led bootlegs.

The question now is whether the Patriots' linebacking corps, led by Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss, can make pivotal stops in the middle of the field against Bowers.

Brock Bowers has become key to how this offense moves, even when the Raiders have struggled in the past. Vegas funnels a lot of attention to their tight ends. 38.7% of the Raiders' targets go to their tight ends, for a league-high 53 targets through four weeks.

Two weeks back from injury, Bowers has 25 targets, 16 receptions, 202 yards, and two touchdowns. The Raiders like to use two tight ends, Bowers and Michael Mayer. It's not a smart move for the Patriots to drop back an extra defensive back to blanket coverage. The Patriots will need disciplined tactics to keep the tight ends from being all over the field on Sunday and keep drives alive.

Las Vegas likes play-action and bootlegs, which is where both Spillane and Elliss can thrive or fall on defense. These plays have turned five-yard passes to Bowers into 15-20-yard plays, keeping the ball moving.

Spillane has been a commander in the middle of the field lately. He'll need to carry the physical burden in short-yardage and red-zone situations to jam Bowers at the line. Elliss comes in by utilizing his lateral quickness to disrupt Bowers on the route. If this becomes an issue, expect Mike Vrabel to have the linebackers throw Bowers off with an initial jam at the start of his route, followed by a safety coming into coverage off the top.

Bowers may not be 100% at game time, as there's a lot of focus on his knee right now, but if he is on the field, expect him to be targeted throughout four quarters. In last season's opener, Bowers caught five for 103 yards, and the Raiders won 20-13.

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