Instant analysis of Patriots’ embarrassing 30-24 loss to Raiders

The Patriots let another win slip away in embarrassing fashion.

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Just when you start thinking it couldn’t get any worse, the New England Patriots suffered their most humiliating defeat of the season at the hands of the hapless Las Vegas Raiders.

The NFL officials made the wrong decision in ruling Raiders receiver Keelan Cole’s fourth-quarter catch, which was clearly out of bounds, a touchdown, but the league made the right decision to save the masses the headache of watching this mess of a game in primetime.

Thank you, NFL.

Make no mistake, the Patriots are in no place to be complaining about the officiating considering they did everything possible to lose to the Raiders. The score was tied late in the fourth quarter after the officials upheld the controversial touchdown call that put the Raiders back in the game.

With time winding and the game likely headed into overtime, the Patriots offense, which has been anemic all year long, started throwing laterals in a desperate attempt to put more points on the board. Never mind the fact that they have one of the better defenses in the league, and there was probably a good chance the offense would get the ball back in extra minutes.

Instead of taking the knee and living to fight another down, the Patriots continued to force the action by calling a running play, which ultimately ended in Jakobi Meyers throwing an interception returned for a game-winning touchdown by former Patriot and current Raiders defensive end Chandler Jones.

Matt Patricia and the offensive play-calling will steal headlines for another week as the now 7-7 Patriots watched their slim playoff hopes fall off a cliff with the loss.

There’s still a possibility for them to sneak in through the backdoor, but they’ll have do so with the Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills coming up on the schedule. That’s an improbable feat if the Patriots had Patrick Mahomes at quarterback and Andy Reid calling the offensive plays.

Honestly, the Patriots might actually be in a better place right now with Reid as the head coach. The team that took the field against the Raiders looked undisciplined and poorly-coached, which is the same thing people were saying about them when the teams met in the preseason finale back in August.

Yet, here we are in Week 15 and nothing has changed for the Patriots. Bill Belichick might be the greatest coach in NFL history, but he’s lying in the bed that he himself made with this mess of a football team.

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