LAS VEGAS
A bad road loss can be waved away. A blueprint cannot. On Sunday in Foxborough, the New England Patriots did not just beat the Las Vegas Raiders 45-17 — they demonstrated, in detail and on film that every remaining opponent now owns, exactly how to take apart a Raiders defense that two weeks ago was the story of the young season.
The numbers from the game, compiled by Sportradar, are blunt. New England outgained Las Vegas 536-306. Drake Maye completed 26 of 34 passes for 374 yards and four touchdowns, added a rushing touchdown, and did not turn the ball over. The Patriots scored 14 points in the first quarter — one more than the Raiders had allowed in the first quarter of their first four games combined — and never really slowed down.
This Was Not the Defense That Started 3-0
Context is what turns a rout into a concern. Raiders Wire pointed out that Las Vegas came into Sunday leading the NFL in takeaways and allowing 21 points per game, sitting at 3-0 before a loss to Kansas City in which the defense gave up 30. The Patriots nearly doubled that points-allowed average in one afternoon, and added 165 rushing yards on 31 carries for good measure.
Head coach Klint Kubiak opened his Monday remarks by calling the performance below the club's standard. The analysts who cover the team daily were blunter: the problem, they argued, is that New England's plan was not exotic. It was built from the first four weeks of Raiders film — mix the run and the pass, use misdirection, and attack a young secondary that struggles to pass receivers off in zone coverage. Missed tackles, blown assignments and failed handoffs left Patriots receivers running free, again and again.
Two Plays That Explain the Afternoon
The opening drive set the tone: a coverage breakdown let DeMario Douglas loose for a 35-yard touchdown. In the third quarter, on second-and-18 — the down and distance a defense is built to win — rookie cornerback Hezekiah Masses was beaten by Kyle Williams for a 34-yard touchdown. Williams also had a 49-yard catch. And all of it happened with New England missing its top deep threats, A.J. Brown and Mack Hollins, which rather undercuts any theory that the Raiders simply ran into a full-strength passing game.
The pass rush, the unit supposed to rescue the secondary, never arrived. Maye was sacked once. Maxx Crosby, the player every offense accounts for first, finished with one tackle and two quarterback hits — and a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty that stood out in a team total of eight penalties for 101 yards from a group that had been one of the league's least penalized. Crosby's own postgame summary pointed to early downs: New England stayed ahead of the sticks and made big plays in big moments. The Raiders' one takeaway, a fumble forced by defensive tackle Adam Butler, produced no points.
The offense did not rescue anyone, either. Kirk Cousins threw for 243 yards and a touchdown on 19-of-28 passing, rookie Fernando Mendoza added 48 yards in relief, and the Patriots' defense — itself down four cornerbacks — controlled the Raiders' running game. A 45-17 final is a team result, but the questions this week are aimed at one side of the ball.
The Decision Rob Leonard Has to Make
Defensive coordinator Rob Leonard now owns the week's hardest choice, and both halves of it are risky. The Raiders prefer to disrupt with their front four and protect the secondary behind it. That formula just failed: four rushers did not bother Maye, and the coverage behind them broke anyway. Blitzing more would put pressure on the quarterback — and put even more stress on a secondary New England has already shown the league how to beat.
There is one week to pick a poison, because the next test is not a rebuilding offense finding itself. The Bills come to Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, October 18, with Josh Allen coming off a 37-34 overtime win over the Rams on Monday night. Allen is, in every respect the Patriots just exploited, a harder version of the same exam: a quarterback who punishes man coverage with his legs, extends plays when the first read is covered, and turns a blown assignment into a 40-yard touchdown instead of a first down.
The Raiders are 3-2, which in mid-October is a record with everything still in front of it. But seasons turn on whether a bad afternoon was an exception or an exposure. Sunday in Las Vegas, against Allen, the Raiders' defense gets to argue its case. The Patriots have already presented the evidence against it.
The Bills tune up for the trip to Las Vegas in our recap of their overtime win in Los Angeles.
