Raiders vs Patriots Week 3: Las Vegas’ Best Plays

Let s be honest here. What happened between the Las Vegas Raiders and the New England Patriots was ugly and probably has more than a few Raiders fans rethinking their postseason chances. Not only is that evident by how ineffectual the Raiders were on defense, but by how Derek Carr struggled to keep up on offense as well. 

Of course, a lot of that could be chalked up to Josh Jacobs, Darren Waller and Henry Rugg s III being unavailable for Sunday s game, but Carr and company still should have had a better game plan. They had so many missed tackles by the second half of the game that it was embarrassing to watch. 

With that being said and it becoming obvious that there were no five best plays this week, here are a few of note that we found during the trainwreck that was the game. As for the Raiders’ playoffs hopes, they remain in second place in the AFC West and are going up against teams with injuries of their own, which could keep them in the running for the time being. 

Holding the Patriots to a field goal in the second half

Field goals. That s how the Patriots got on the board. Interestingly enough, it happened after Derek Carr fumbled the ball and gave New England great field position to work with. It wasn t enough though, as the Raiders ended up slowing down the defense and forcing them to only put up three points on the board. 

Again, this accomplishment might seem like small potatoes, and it is to some degree, but it showed an example of a defense that could force the opposing team to settle.

Derek Carr to Moreau for a touchdown

The Las Vegas Raiders were struggling to put points on the board and time was running out. The Patriots offense looked poised to score again, which would put the Raiders in a two-score deficit. If nothing else, Las Vegas needed some magic and got some in the way of a 28-yard penalty for defensive pass interference and followed up with a hell of a pass to Renfrow. 

The pass looked like it was a touchdown, but a further review of the tape revealed that Renfrow s feet touched the ground before he reached the goal line. This resulted in Carr passing the ball to Foster Moreau  at the yard line on the very next play, which resulted in a touchdown and a score of 13-10 

Not only was this the moment that Las Vegas stood their ground and showed that the game wasn t finished, but it also showed just how well they could do when under pressure. While the result wasn t what Raiders fans wanted to see at the end of the day, the Raiders showing this kind of ease while moving downfield is at least a little promising.  

13-yard pass from Carr to Renfrow

While this score didn t matter, especially since the Patriots were up 36-13 by now, the drive proved that the Raiders don’t have the word quit in their vocabulary. It was a short, 13-yard pass from Carr to Hunter Renfrow. 

It was nothing to really celebrate but showed that the team could reach the end zone and go down fighting. Whether they continue that or not remains to be seen, but at least they didn t give up.