1st & 10: Patriots vs. Raiders

The Skinny Post

1. On Sunday, the Las Vegas Raiders defeated the Patriots 21-17 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Las Vegas improves to 3-3, while the Patriots fall to 1-5. With Sunday’s loss, New England are the AFC East basement dwellers. The Dolphins lead the division at 5-1, followed by the 4-2 Bills, and the 3-3 Jets. New England’s other 3 division rivals all secured Sunday wins. The Patriots will take on Buffalo on Sunday in Foxborough at 1:00pm.

Safety First Last

2. Down 19-17, the Patriots set up shop at their own 9 yard line with 2:23 remaining. The Patriots gained their own 20 yard line on the final play before the 2 minute warning, but an Antonio Mafi holding call pushed them back to their own 8 yard line. After a long incomplete pass to Davante Parker down the left sideline, the Patriots were hit with a delay of game penalty that put their backs to the goal line at their own 4. This set the stage for the Raiders’ game clinching sack of Mac Jones in the endzone for a safety, extending the Raiders lead to 21-17 and giving them the ball. The Raiders were able to kneel down 3 times to kill the remaining 1:47.

Las Vegas Patriots

3. Jimmy Garoppolo started the game at quarterback for Las Vegas, but did not return for the second half after sustaining a back injury. Garoppolo was taken to a hospital for precautionary testing. Brian Hoyer came on in relief of Garoppolo, going 6 of 10 for 102 yards. To add to the sting of former Patriots coming back to haunt New England, Jakobi Meyers also caught a 2nd quarter touchdown pass.

500 Club

4. Sunday was Bill Belichick’s 500th game as a head coach. Belichick becomes the third head coach to reach the 500 game plateau, following Don Shula (526) and George Halas (506). Belichick (330 wins) trails Shula (347 wins) for the all-time NFL head coaching wins record. Belichick also “passes” Shula to take sole possession of the 4th most losses by an NFL head coach (157).

Student 3-0: Master 0-3

5. With Sunday’s loss to former assistant Josh McDaniels’ Raiders, Bill Belichick is now 18-21 in his career against former assistant coaches and former players, including playoffs. Since 2018, Belichick is now 6-12 against those who suited up for the Pats or coached under him. He is 0-3 against McDaniels.

Zeke Snaps Zero

6. Ezekiel Elliott’s 2 yard touchdown run in the 3rd quarter broke the Patriots touchdown drought. The drought lasted 40 drives, 187 offensive plays, and 197 mins and 42 seconds of game time (per CBS). Elliott’s plunge from 2 yards out was his first touchdown with New England.

DA MIA

7. Raiders’ star wideout Davante Adams was limited by the Patriots’ defense to only 2 catches in the win. Adams was targeted only 5 times, tied for 3rd-fewest in his career. The 6-time Pro Bowler and 3 time First-team All-Pro has only been held to 2 or fewer catches on 4 occasions since the beginning of the 2018 season (including yesterday’s contest) in 80 games played. Adams was injured on a thunderous hit by Jabrill Peppers that led to Jahlani Tavai’s interception in the first quarter, but returned to play 91% of the Raiders’ offensive snaps. Adams’ lack of offensive production appeared to brew his frustration on the Las Vegas sideline.

Bourne For This

8. Kendrick Bourne set a career high with 10 receptions. Bourne’s 89 yards were good for 4th best of his career. Bourne contributed a large chunk to New England’s 9 and a half minute 4th quarter drive, accounting for 7 catches for 43 yards and adding a 4 yard rush.

Bad Takeaways

9. Jahlani Tavai’s 1st quarter interception was only the Patriots’ 3rd takeaway of the season. Under Belichick as head coach, the Patriots have finished top 10 in the league in takeaways 14 times. They currently rank dead last in the NFL in takeaways.

MC Ran

10. Malik Cunningham made his NFL debut after being elevated from the Patriots’ practice squad on Saturday. The undrafted Louisville product played 6 snaps. On Ezekiel Elliott’s touchdown run, Cunningham lined up in the Pistol formation with Elliott before motioning out left, leaving Elliott to take the direct snap out of the Wildcat for a touchdown. Cunningham was a lethal dual-threat quarterback at Louisville, racking up 12,839 all purpose yards and 120 touchdowns. To offset Cunningham’s status on Sunday’s active roster, Bailey Zappe was tagged as New England’s emergency third quarterback and Will Grier was inactive.