Belichick reaches milestone as Patriots upend Raiders
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Bill Belichick became the third coach in NFL history to reach 275 regular-season victories and Rex Burkhead scored three touchdowns to lead the New England Patriots to a 36-20 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
Belichick joined George Halas (318) and Don Shula (328) as the only coaches to reach the milestone.
Sony Michel finished with nine carries for 117 yards. Burkhead had two rushing scores and an 11-yard TD reception.
Cam Newton was 17 of 28 passing for 162 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Shilique Calhoun had two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery for a score.
The Patriots have won the last six meetings with the Raiders and improved to 47-9 in regular-season games following a loss. Raiders coach Jon Gruden dropped to 0-3 against Belichick.
Derek Carr finished 24 of 32 for 261 yards and a two TDs for Las Vegas. But he had two fumbles which led to a New England field goal and a late touchdown when he lost the ball in the end zone and it was recovered by Calhoun. Josh Jacobs also had a fumble.
Las Vegas opened the season by scoring at least 34 points in its first two games with six red zone touchdowns. The Raiders were also second in the NFL, converting on 57 percent of third downs.
They went just 2 for 5 in the red zone and 3 of 9 on third down Sunday.
The offenses were stagnant early as both teams struggled to get into a groove because of turnovers and poor performance on third down.
Things changed for the Patriots on their first drive of the third quarter when Michel, who struggled in the first two games, broke free for a 38-yard run.
A 15-yard pass from Newton to Burkhead got the Patriots into the red zone. Three plays later Burkhead capped the drive with a spinning 5-yard TD run to stretch New England's lead to 20-10.
After both teams traded field goals, the Patriots took over with 11:22 remaining and ate up more than five minutes of clock with a 10-play, 86-yard drive that was capped with a 5-yard TD plunge by Burkhead.