Raiders vs. Patriots: Winners & Losers From New England

FOXBOROUGH, MASS.—The Las Vegas Raiders (3-2) came into New England today to play the Patriots (3-2) and looked terrible from the start.

Riding a wave of optimism and excitement, with a chance to flip the script from a Raiders rebuild to the NFL Playoffs, today's letdown can possibly be credited to the “Rat Poison” of positive press Nick Saban so famously called out. Perhaps it was traveling across the country and playing a game at 10 AM PT; whatever the reason, at no time since Klint Kubiak arrived has this team looked so bad.

I asked Klint Kubiak about Saban's "Rat Poison" analogy, and he was blunt with his assessment: "Well, I think it's going to show a lot about who we are, how mature we are, how good our leadership is with myself, for our players. It's an opportunity for us to move forward. We have our whole season ahead of us, and we can't let this game beat us twice."

The Patriots, decimated by injuries all over the field, eventually triumphed 45-17. The Raiders looked totally discombobulated in every phase from start to finish.

Prompting one Super Bowl-winning and well-respected NFL OC to text me, “Such a disappointment with today's performances after last week's game.”

Klint Kubiak minced no words, saying to the media before he could even be asked, "Very disappointing performance today from everyone, players and coaches. Obviously give a lot of credit to the Patriots. They did a great job. We had eight penalties today; far too many. It's a game that we have to move forward from very quickly. We have everything ahead of us as a team. We're not happy with what happened today, and we have to go do something about it. We have to fix it and move on."

Winners and Losers

Before this game, I said the Raiders were not good enough to come here and beat themselves and the Patriots. Unfortunately for Raider Nation, I was right.

Coaching

The Raiders were not ready. The second offensive play (First Pass) was nearly picked off, as the Patriots read the play and jumped the route. That is on coaching; to self-scout tells for plays.

In every phase of this game, the Patriots staff had their number. It was clear that on this day, the Raiders coaching staff didn’t have their team ready or a game plan that should have punished a New England team that resembled a M*A*S*H* unit more than a Patriots team.

Kubiak again went blunt in his assessment: "Well, defensively, offensively, special teams, I don't think any of us played well enough to win today."

We knew coming into this season that this would be a Raiders rebuild. Credit this staff for an amazing job that even gave this team the opportunity to flip the script.

But the reality is that before today’s game I told you, “If the Raiders play on Sunday as they did against the Kansas City Chiefs, they will win." I didn’t think I needed to add a caveat about the coaching staff.

The aforementioned NFL OC texted about the staff, “This is first game where I don't like either offensive or defensive strategies. Mental letdown after last Sunday by coaches.”

This is not the end of the world, but it was a total disaster. I have lost zero faith in Kubiak, his staff, or this roster. None of them have been perfect this year; it's just that none of them have been collectively this bad on the same day.

Offense

We anticipated and discussed all week that Mike Vrabel would sell out to stop the run, and he did. What we didn’t expect was that down four cornerbacks, FOUR, the Raiders couldn’t get any traction at all. Drives stalled, unforced penalties, and a complete lack of a schematic attack plan that Vrabel couldn’t answer.

Failing to convert on opportunity is not how you win in the NFL, and we have seen the Raiders perform at a much higher level in the first four weeks of this early season. Just not today.

So, reverting to this level of performance is not acceptable when they have proven their ceiling is much higher.

If the Raiders had performed like this all season, it would have made more sense; they haven’t.

The Raiders' offense looked stale, uncreative, and as if it were on autopilot.

Kubiak said of his offense today, “I think just overall today, we were playing from behind all day, so it became a passing game, and it didn't need to be that way. I abandoned the run game too early and didn't give it a chance to get going."

He went further when talking about the relentless pass rush on QB Kirk Cousins: "Well, they did a great job in their blitz package. When you pass it that many times, there's going to be those. But overall, I think they did a great job of pressuring us today."

Defense

Despite numerous key injuries, the Raiders' defense finally looked like the young, thin unit we've seen all year. Former Raiders HC Josh McDaniels put on a masterful performance calling the Patriots' offense

The Patriots took it to the Raiders and went right after them.

The Raiders' attacking style looked tentative, almost as if they expected the beat-up Patriots to surrender. The Patriots went on the attack, and the Raiders' D looked like Mike Tyson when he took a surprise punch from James “Buster” Douglas, who went on to win the fight.

No one told Douglas Tyson was invincible, and no one told the Patriots they were too depleted to win. The Raiders' coverages were beaten by backups, and the Silver and Black failed to adjust to what the Patriots continued to do, with no success.

The Raiders D gave up 45 points, 165 rushing yards, 371 passing yards, and ruled the day on the field.

The Patriots were not perfect; the Raiders D was worse.

Kubiak said of his defense, "They kept going after us and they made big plays. Credit to them."

Special Teams

Matt Gay missed a field goal he should have made, and Darrell Luter Jr. made a brutal mistake by not downing a perfect AJ Cole punt. They weren't the sole reason the Raiders lost, but as professionals, they certainly didn’t do enough to do their part to win.

Kubiak said of his special teams, when I asked him if it surprised him with their mistakes, “Yeah, it did. That's been a strength of our team. I see it as a strength moving forward. We have to go to work to get it fixed."

Raider Nation

Always present, Raider Nation showed up today. Adam Vinatieri went off on Raider Nation during a halftime ceremony, essentially saying, "I always thought we owned the Raiders, and now, thanks to Tom Brady, I guess we do."

The Raiders fans roared with boos. Despite Vinatieri's verbal whipping, Raider Nation did their part; sadly, the team didn’t.

Final Thoughts

I will get into the details later this week when I give my report card and review the film.

This was a bad day, the first in five games for a rebuilding team. Raider fans are disappointed because this staff and team have overachieved this year.

The fact that it took us five weeks into the year to finally write this story is perhaps the even bigger story.

This is still a rebuilding season; the Raiders are still thin, young, and void of talent at certain positions. The staff had a bad day, and so did the players.

It was just the first day; they all came together on one day.

Today was a hard smack in the face to a team that had overachieved.

Back to the drawing board, the Buffalo Bills, a true Super Bowl contender like the Kansas City Chiefs, are coming back to Allegiant next week.

Their “Mafia” of fans will be loud, and the Raiders will quickly return to getting better.

That was the plan all along. The joys of two weeks ago in New Orleans are offset by today's doldrums. That is all part of rebuilding the Raiders.

Sometimes, reality hurts. It hurts for the Silver and Black today.

Kubiak said of how he told the team to take this loss, "Well, I think it's going to show a lot about who we are, how mature we are, how good our leadership is with myself, for our players. It's an opportunity for us to move forward. We have our whole season ahead of us, and we can't let this game beat us twice."

This is a three-year rebuild, and Kubiak hasn't lost any of my faith in him. But how he handled this loss told me a lot about him, and it should tell you. The Raiders got their guy, and his unexpected early success is what made this one hurt. He isn't done, and the Raiders are in good hands. His hands.

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