Patriots Survive Home Opener, Top Raiders 16-9
Sunday, September 21, 2014
The New England Patriots finally returned to the friendly confines of Gillette Stadium after being on the road for the first two weeks of the season. They were hosting the Oakland Raiders, and were expected to shake-off the early-season struggles. This was not the case as the Patriots needed a late interception from an unlikely source to escape with a 16-9 win over the Oakland Raiders.
The Patriots offense was unable to get moving early in the game, going 3-and-out in their first offensive drive. The drive saw three consecutive passes with only one completion, a four-yard screen to Brandon LaFell.
Oakland was able to answer the failed New England drive with a long scoring drive to give the Raiders the lead. The drive saw a good mix of short Derek Carr passes and Darren McFadden rushes before Sebastian Janikowski hit a 49-yard field goal to give Oakland the 3-0 lead. The Patriots offense continued to sputter throughout the 1st quarter, gaining just 23 total yards.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe 2nd quarter was a different story for the Patriots, as their defense started to show its strength behind Chandler Jones. Jones had a pass deflection and a big tackle for loss to spark the defense.
The Patriots were finally able to get their offense moving in the 2nd quarter, embarking on a long 15-play, 84-yard touchdown drive that ended in a Rob Gronkowski touchdown. The Patriots exploited the weak rush defense of Oakland, using Stevan Ridley to power through the defense and Julian Edelman was featured in the pass game. The drive was capped on a 6-yard touchdown to a wide-opened Rob Gronkowski who got open on a crossing route and delivered his patented "Gronk Spike" after the touchdown, giving the Patriots a 7-3 lead.
The Patriots offense was able to keep the momentum going late in the half, but fell just short of a touchdown, getting a Stephen Gostkowski 21-yard field goal before the half. The Patriots went into the half with a 10-3 lead, but were unable to move the ball outside of their touchdown drive.
The 2nd half was not much kinder to the Patriots, as they were unable to get anything moving on offense in the 3rd quarter while giving up two field goals to Oakland. They entered the 4th quarter clinging to a 10-9 lead.
In the 4th quarter, the Patriots appeared to gain some momentum following a 26-yard Matthew Slater kickoff return that landed the Patriots at their own 40 yard line. The Patriots took the ball inside of the one yard line with 1st & goal, but were unable to convert a touchdown and settled for a 20-yard field goal by Gostkowski to make it 13-9.
After the defense was able to stop Oakland multiple times, the Patriots were able to get another decent drive together, but again the Patriots were stalled and settled for a 36-yard Gostkowski field goal to make it 16-9.
The Raiders had the ball with enough time to mount a late rally. They were led by Carr to the Patriots 6 yard line before a holding call erased a game-tying touchdown run. The very next play, Vince Wilfork grabbed his 3rd career interception on a tip from Logan Ryan.
Tom Brady finished the game 24/37 for 234 yards and the touchdown to Gronkowski. He was sacked twice for 13 yards but was hit multiple times by Justin Tuck and others. Brady even appeared to get hurt on a hit late in the 4th quarter, but stayed in the game.
The Patriots rushing attack was expected to be a bright spot for the Patriots with Oakland allowing 200 yards per game in their first two games. That was not so as they managed just 76 yards rushing with Stevan Ridley leading the way with 54-yards on 19 carries.
Julian Edelman was one of the few bright spots for the Patriots, grabbing 10 catches for 84 yards. Rob Gronkowski grabbed 3 catches for 44 yards and the lone touchdown.
The Patriots were able to kneel on the ball and escape with the 16-9 win and move to 2-1 on the season. The Patriots will have a long week before traveling to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs next Monday night on Monday Night Football.
