The New England Patriots’ 23-6 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in the preseason finale was the train wreck you could see coming a mile away, if you’ve been paying attention to the joint practices.
Las Vegas didn’t even play many of their key starters, including Derek Carr, Davante Adams and Chandler Jones, and they still had little issues beating the Patriots at every phase of the game.
This obviously wasn’t the New York Giants or Carolina Panthers the Patriots were facing this time out.
The Raiders are playing in the most stacked division in football, the AFC West, and they have a legitimate shot of returning to the playoffs for a second consecutive season. So the Patriots got a good look at how they match up against one of the more elite teams in the league.
And it wasn’t good.
That isn’t to suggest the team can’t turn things around. Yes, their preseason run looked ugly at times, but people would forget all of it if they turned around and knocked off the Miami Dolphins in the season-opener on September 11.
Here’s what people were saying about Friday night’s game.