The Raiders were coming off a good victory in Miami. They’d won two of their last three, their offense looked as if it were starting to come to life, plus they had a bye week and extra time to prepare for the New England Patriots.
None of it mattered.
Sunday, in a game in Mexico City against the defending Super Bowl champions, the Raiders – touted as a championship contender before this season – were flattened by the Patriots, 33-8.
The outcome was both embarrassing and costly. The Raiders could have picked up some ground in the AFC West on the No. 1 Chiefs, who lost to the woeful Giants Sunday, 12-9. Instead, Oakland drops to 4-6 with just six games remaining to come alive if they want to get to the playoffs a second straight season.
It was baffling, too. That the Patriots were able to score wasn’t a surprise. They came in with the NFL’s No. 2 overall offense. But the New England defense – statistically the worst in the league – almost pitched a shutout.
For a while, the game was close. By the second quarter, the Patriots were up 14-0, but the Raiders looked as if they were going to slash that lead in half. They drove deep into Patriots territory, and on a first-down play from the 15, Derek Carr zipped a pass to Seth Roberts, who was tackled at the 3. But while being tackled, Roberts lost the ball and the Pats recovered. Then, with just 33 seconds on the clock, New England moved the ball far enough for kicker Stephen Gostkowski to kick a career-best 62-yard field goal in the thin altitude at 7,000-plus feet to give his team a 17-0 halftime lead.
The Patriots promptly blew the game open on their third play of the second half, with Tom Brady connecting with Brandin Cooks on a 64-yard touchdown strike.
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The Raiders couldn’t get on the scoreboard until the fourth quarter, when Carr completed a 9-yard pass-and-run play to Amari Cooper.
The Raiders will return to Oakland for an AFC West game against the Denver Broncos this coming Sunday.
