Busters
RT Jermaine Eluemunor, LT Kolton Miller
Things looked promising for the Raiders on their first drive. They went as far as the New England 26-yard-line. But they would get no farther because on four consecutive plays, Carr was called for a delay of game, Eluemunor was flagged for being ineligible downfield, Miller gave up a pressure leading to an errant pass, and a screen attempt was blown up. They were lucky to be able to attempt a field goal from inside 50 yards.
Late in the second quarter, Eluemunor gave up a pressure on third down and Carr threw it away to avoid the sack.
Obviously, the first score that ate into the Raiders’ lead was Carr’s pick-six in the third quarter. But he might have been able to get things back on track if not for the play of the offensive line.
On the first third down of the third quarter for the Raiders, Eluemunor jumped early and was flagged for a false start. The next drive ended on third down with Miller giving up the sack on Carr. That led to a punt out of the back of their own end zone, giving the Patriots the ball at midfield. It only took a few plays for them to be in field goal range and the lead was cut to one.
The next drive, it was Eluemunor who gave up the sack. The possession after that, Miller had a false start on the first play, and then gave up a pressure on third down and the dump-off was stopped short of the sticks.
LB Luke Masterson, DT Jerry Tillery
Rhamondre Stevenon gouged the Raiders for 172 yards on 19 carries. And these two are big reasons why.
On the Patriots’ first scoring drive, they both gave up a 14-yard run with Masterson giving up two more runs for a first down to put them in scoring range.
That 14-yard run was the fourth longest of the day for the Pats. The third longest went for 17 yards and it came late in the second quarter, and it was Masterson who surrendered it.
The second longest run went for 26 yards in the third quarter and Tillery was among those who were blocked to clear the path. Also on that drive, Masterson gave up a ten-yard run and an 11-yard catch. It’s a damn good thing that drive started at the two-yard line (thanks to AJ Cole and Mack Hollins), so all those yards only led to a field goal.
The longest run of the day went for 34 yards to the house and Tillery and Masterson were both among those who gave it up. That run gave the Patriots their first lead of the day late in the fourth quarter.
HC Josh McDaniels
You don’t get much luckier than McDaniels did in this one. He started going conservative early, then got a timely blocked punt to help the Raiders get a big lead at the half. And then watched as another double-digit lead was lost.
And it should have been worse. The Patriots had two touchdowns on consecutive goal-to-go situations called back by a timeout and a false start, forcing them to settle for a field goal. And even after the blocked punt, the Patriots gave the Raiders a big assist on their touchdown, getting flagged for illegal contact on a Carr pass that was so high it hit the crossbar and a holding penalty on the next play to put the in first and goal at the five.
Then, of course, they still ended up being outscored 21-0 for most of the second half to see their 14-point lead become a seven-point deficit. And it was only by way of a favorable call on what looked to be an incompletion to Keelan Cole in the end zone and that absolutely ridiculous and inexplicable double lateral play at the end that this game wasn’t won by the Patriots or at very least go to overtime.
Savor the flavor, Josh, Your old ball coach and former team seem to have done you a huge solid to keep you from losing your fifth game this season in which you blew a double-digit lead.
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