In a must-win situation yet again in Las Vegas, the Patriots could not have played more sloppily in all three phases in the first half of Sunday afternoon’s battle with the Raiders, trailing 17-3 at halftime.
But the script got flipped a bit in the second half as New England notched a pick-6 touchdown, tightened its defense and rode its own productive running game on the way to the comeback to take a 24-17 lead. Las Vegas then tied the game at 24-24 on a 30-yard touchdown and controversial replay review.
It appeared the teams were headed for overtime when Jakobi Meyers' cross-field lateral was hauled in by Chandler Jones and returned 48 yards for the game-winning touchdown, the final score 30-24 Raiders.
The loss dropped Bill Belichick to 14-16 against former assistants, including a 1-7 mark in his last eight matchups and 0-2 in battles with Josh McDaniels. New England’s record falls to 7-7 on the season. While the Patriots are still in the playoff picture for a possible Wild Card spot in the AFC, it's going to be a tough fight down the stretch of the next three weeks.
Before turning the page to Saturday afternoon’s Christmas Eve battle with Joe Burrow’s Bengals at Gillette Stadium, here are the limited highs and at times ugly lows from the gut-punch loss in Las Vegas.
Thumbs up
Kyle Dugger – With things looking ugly down 17-3 in the third quarter, the young safety jumped a quick throw toward Davante Adams and returned it 13 yards for a touchdown. It was a key play to inject life into a lifeless Patriots team and bring doubt to a Raiders team that already had been the first team in NFL history with four blown second-half, double-digit leads this season. The score was New England’s fifth defensive score of the year, the most in the NFL.
Rhamondre Stevenson – Though he missed practice time his ankle injury this week and wasn’t on the field for the opening New England drive, Stevenson was still one of the few bright spots of the Patriots’ offense once again. He popped a 9-yard run on his first snap. He added a 17-yard run to try to no avail to jumpstart a two-minute drive at the end of the first half. With New England backed up on its own 2 in the third quarter he burst through for a 26-yard gain. Stevenson then gave New England the late lead with a 34-yard touchdown run. He finished the day with 19 carries for 172 yards (9.1 avg.).
Nick Folk – New England’s veteran kicker came up big as he has pretty much all year. Folk hit his kicks from 24, 47 and then a 54-yarder in the fourth quarter to pull the Patriots to within 17-16 in the fourth quarter.
Marcus Jones – The rookie defensive back had a key pass defense in coverage deep down the middle of the field of Raiders star Davante Adams, saving a would-be touchdown on the opening drive. When Jones was in coverage Adams did little damage, in fact he finished the day with just four catches for 28 yards overall. Jones was a big part of the plan taking away Adams in a way that few teams are able to do, although he was in coverage for the game-tying 30-yard touchdown to Keelan Cole.
Thumbs down
Run defense – NFL rushing leader Josh Jacobs got going early in Las Vegas, hitting for an 18-yard run on the opening drive that saw him pick up 34 yard on the march to the field goal. Jacobs had 70 yards on 14 carries by halftime helping the home team build the double-digit lead. New England's run defense did tighten up in the second half to play its part in the comeback effort, but the run defense was a major part of the early deficit.
Adrian Phillips – The veteran safety had Darren Waller in man coverage with Las Vegas facing a second-and-20 from the Patriots 25 in the second quarter when the tight end toasted Phillips for the easy touchdown. The wide-open score left fellow safety Devin McCourty jogging to the sideline clearly very upset. Phillips was also the up-back involved in the snap on the punt team that caught right wing Jabrill Peppers offguard and led to a Raiders blocked punt late in the second quarter leading to a Las Vegas touchdown.
Jabrill Peppers/Blocked punt – For some reason the veteran safety and right wing on the punt team was not facing the line of scrimmage when New England snapped the ball for Michael Palardy’s punt late in the second quarter. Malcolm Koonce rushed right through Peppers’ area to block the punt and set the Raiders up for a short-field to a touchdown, a field that got shorter thanks to a Peppers’ holding penalty a couple snaps later in coverage of Josh Jacobs.
Offensive execution/mechanics/coaching – Another week, another frustrating performance for Matt Patricia, Mac Jones and the Patriots' offense as a whole. A sideline timeout wiped out a Jones TD pass to Jakobi Meyers that frustrated the quarterback. Then there was an ugly false start on a would-be Jones QB sneak TD when the quarterback didn’t wait for Jonnu Smith to get set. Timeouts, penalties, poor management and all the infuriating rest were again on full display for a Patriots offense that’s in anything but in late season form.
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