Raiders return to earth in road loss
The Las Vegas Raiders had the look Sunday of a team coming off a hugely emotional win.
The Las Vegas Raiders had the look Sunday of a team coming off a hugely emotional win faced with a high- caliber opponent and a cross country road trip.
Not that they’ll concede any of that following a 3620 loss to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots rushed for 250 yards, had three touchdowns from Rex Burkhead and three field goals from Nick Folk in improving to 2-1. The Raiders were limited to a 1-yard pass from Derek Carr to Foster Moreau, a too-little-too-late 13-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow and field goals of 29 and 25 yards from Daniel Carlson.
Burkhead caught an 11yard pass from Cam Newton and had rushing touchdowns of 5 and 2 yards. Sony Michel led New England with 117 yards on just nine carries, including breakaway runs of 35 and 48 yards in the third quarter.
New England put the game away with a defensive touchdown, with Deatrich Wise Jr. contrbuting on a goal line sack/fumble against Carr that he recovered for the touchdown that put the game away.
Carr was 24 of 32 for 261 yards and two scores, including the final touchdown to Renfrow.
RED ZONE WOES >> After being sharp in the red zone through two weeks, the Raiders had one touchdowns in four possessions inside the 20-yard line. TAKING THE POINTS >> Carlson’s 25-yard field goal got the Raiders within 23-13 on their fourth red zone trip. On third-and-7 from the New England 9-yard line, Carr found no receivers open and threw to Jalen Richard for 2 yards to the 7-yard line. Coach Jon Gruden took the points trailing by 13 points rather than going for a touchdown.
New England answered emphatically with a 10play, 86-yard touchdown drive and Burkhead’s third touchdown from the 2-yard line. A missed extra point by Folk kept the Raiders within 29-16 with 5:17 left.
Any positive vibes from that miss evaporated quickly when Devontae Booker was penalized for an illegal block, the Raiders were backed up to the 2-yard line and Carr was dumped by ex-Raider Shilique Calhoun and Deitrich Wise Jr. The ball came free, with Wise getting the touchdown for a 36-13 New England lead.