The Las Vegas Raiders’ day at the New England Patriots turned quickly and ended badly. They tied the game at 7-7 early, then watched New England score 31 unanswered points on the way to a 38-10 loss Sunday.
That is why the Fernando Mendoza Raiders debut search is landing now, even though this game belonged to Kirk Cousins and Brock Bowers. Cousins connected with Bowers on two big plays and capped the opening push with a 13-yard touchdown pass that made it 7-7 with 8:19 left in the quarter, but the Raiders never built on it. New England answered with a 14-7 lead with 1:30 left in the quarter, stretched it to 21-7 with 24 seconds left in the half, opened the second half with another touchdown drive, and never let the game tighten again.
The loss dropped the Raiders to 3-2 after they opened the season 3-0, and it came with more than just scoreboard damage. Tonka Hemingway went to the blue medical tent in the first quarter and left with a stinger/neck injury, Patrick Johnson later went to the medical tent with a stinger, and Dareke Young was shaken up in the third quarter. The Raiders also recovered a fumble in New England territory before halftime, but Matt Gay missed his first field-goal attempt of the season with 1:56 left and the Patriots quickly turned that into a 21-7 halftime edge.
After the break, the gap only widened. Gay later hit from 46 yards to make it 28-10 with 8:30 left in the third quarter, but Drake Mayee then ran for a touchdown to push New England ahead 35-10 with 3:10 left, and the Patriots led 38-10 in the quarter. The result left both teams at 3-2 and put the Raiders in the kind of stretch where a fast start stops mattering unless they answer it immediately.
They get that chance next Sunday, when the Raiders host the Buffalo Bills at 1:25 p.m. PT. After a second straight loss and a game that slipped away in chunks, the bigger question now is whether the Raiders can steady themselves before the season’s early momentum disappears for good.
