Raiders' Defense A No-Show In Blowout Loss To Patriots

Everybody's favorite reclamation project - the 3-1 Las Vegas Raiders - had a chance to add to their growing legacy on Sunday when they headed east for a 10 a.m. PT kickoff with the 2-2 New England Patriots.

Granted, the Raiders' three wins were against a trio of teams that are a combined 1-14 after five weeks of the NFL season, but they had shown admirable fight and gumption, with a fair bit of skill thrown in, in taking the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs to the wire in a 30-27 defeat on Oct. 4.

Therefore, spirits were still high as the Raiders traveled to face a team that was the defending AFC champs, though they had not been performing to that level, especially after the first three weeks when they stood 1-2. That start was mitigated somewhat by Week 4's 29-26 road win over the Buffalo Bills.

Still, after four weeks, New England's 2025 NFL MVP runnerup Drake Maye was not playing anything like a top-notch quarterback.

In four games, he had completed 73 of 117 passes (62.4%) for 854 yards (213.5 yards per game) with four touchdowns and seven interceptions. Additionally, he had fumbled five times, losing two of them.

That seemed to play right into the hands of an opportunistic Raiders' defense that entered the game leading the league with nine forced turnovers courtesy of five fumble recoveries (first) and four interceptions (tied for fifth).

The root cause of those numbers was a defensive line and linebacker core that was consistently putting immense pressure on opposing QBs. After four contests, the Raiders were tied for fourth in sacks (12) and ranked in the top five in pressures (third with 52), pressure percentage (second, 35.6%), knockdowns (tied for fifth, 20), knockdown percentage% (second, 15.9%) hurries (tied for fifth, 20) and hurry percentage (fifth, 13.7%).

Sounded like a recipe to feast against a shaky quarterback who was turning the ball over at an alarming rate while also taking 10 sacks through four games.

Think again, as Maye carved the Raiders up in a 45-17 New England demolition. He finished 26-for-34 for 374 yards and four TDs with no interceptions while adding 25 rushing yards and a running score.

He was sacked only once and the Raiders forced just one turnover, a lost fumble by New England's Corey Kiner that was recovered by Darien Porter at the Patriots' 38 with 4:33 left in the first half and Las Vegas facing a 14-7 deficit.

But with a chance to knot the score at halftime, the Raiders could manage just seven yards and after Matt Gay missed a 49-yard field goal, Maye expertly led the Patriots downfield, completing an 11-yard TD pass to Hunter Henry with 24 seconds left to make it 21-7 and the rout was on.

One of the reasons that many remained skeptical on the question of if the Raiders could sustain their promising start is that the schedule between now and Thanksgiving is littered with landmines. After facing the Chiefs and Patriots, five of Las Vegas' next six games are against the Buffalo Bills (home), Los Angeles Rams (home), San Francisco 49ers (away), Seattle Seahawks (home) and Denver Broncos (away).

Against a gauntlet like that, if they don't perform much better than they did on Sunday - on both sides of the ball - their season may be cooked before anyone pops a turkey into the oven.