FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots routed the Raiders on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium as Drake Maye returned to MVP-candidate form.
The third-year quarterback accounted for 399 yards of offense (374 passing, 25 rushing) and five touchdowns (four passing, one rushing) as New England cruised to a 45-17 win.
Here are notes from a dominant Patriots win in Foxborough:
High-end pass rushers have given the Patriots some headaches in the past.
That wasn’t the case with Maxx Crosby.
New England’s offensive line was excellent against the five-time Pro Bowler, as one of the keys to Maye’s dominance was the time he had in the pocket.
Crosby’s two most noteworthy plays were picking up a 15-yard penalty for headbutting Cory Durden and getting burned by Hunter Henry on a tight end screen. He finished with one tackle and two quarterback hits. Morgan Moses did yeoman’s work on Crosby for much of the afternoon.
“Hell of a football player,” Moses said. “You know it’s going to be a 60 minute battle. It doesn’t matter what the score is, he’s going to rush the passer. That’s a guy that you’ve gotta detail throughout the week and understand where he’s going to be at. It takes all 11.”
Maye highlighted the protection he was given when discussing his 35-yard first quarter touchdown to DeMario Douglas.
“I’m back there — credit to the offensive line — eating a ham sandwich,” Maye said. “So I got all day back there.”
On that touchdown, the Raiders rushed four and couldn’t get near Maye. Crosby tried a stunt with the defensive tackle, but when he looped inside, center Jared Wilson was ready to pick him up.
“It takes six or seven guys in protection to help out,” Moses said. “When we are connected and we go out there and do it together, this is what it looks like.”
Maye was only sacked once in the 45-17 blowout.
The Patriots were so beleaguered in the secondary that they began the game with only three active cornerbacks, including Kindle Vildor, who was signed from the practice squad on Saturday. When Charles Woods left with a shoulder injury, they were forced to play with two corners and four safeties in their dime packages, but still found a way.
In the locker room, Mike Vrabel gave Vildor one of the game balls, along with Maye. The corner held up well in coverage and forced a fumble. Maye often breaks the team down, but he had Vildor do it after the win.
“I’m just happy to be a part of the team, man,” Vildor said. “Grateful and thankful for the opportunity. I’ve been through a lot. Happy I can come out here and help you all win. Let’s keep stacking more wins.”
In addition to Woods, the Patriots lost Will Campbell (knee), Dre’Mont Jones (shoulder) and TreVeyon Henderson (ankle). Campbell went down in the second quarter when he was rolled up on a running play, hurting the same knee that he suffered an MCL injury to last season. He returned to the sideline and tried to test it out on an exercise bike, but didn’t get back into the game. Moses found a silver lining.
“Just seeing him able to walk out of here has been a blessing already,” Moses said.
Fans of referees had plenty to cheer about on Sunday.
Both the Patriots (12 penalties, 116 yards) and the Raiders (eight penalties, 101 yards) were flagged for over 100 yards. The stoppages were constant.
“There’s a lot to improve on,” Vrabel said. “There’s a lot to work on. The penalties are ridiculous, so we’ll have to focus on that and figure out things that we can improve on, which there’ll be a lot of.”
After picking up a 15-yard penalty from what he said was a “sensitive” ref in Buffalo, Vrabel took another poke at the officials after the win over Las Vegas. He was irked that Maye was flagged for a second quarter intentional grounding that knocked the Patriots out of field goal range.
“It was unfortunate he got the grounding or whatever you wanna call that, because he’s trying to get rid of the football to an eligible receiver,” Vrabel said. “Seven officials couldn’t see Hunter (Henry) standing there.”
Vrabel also had a curious comment in his postgame press conference while praising the wide receiving group.
As attrition has hit the wide receiver room — A.J. Brown and Mack Hollins are both on injured reserve — DeMario Douglas (four catches, 65 yards, two touchdowns), Efton Chism (five catches, 57 yards) and Kyle Williams (three catches, 91 yards, touchdown) have risen to the occasion. In lauding the wideouts, Vrabel added that he needs the rest of his team to behave like they do.
“They all care about each other,” Vrabel said. “Those receivers, they don’t care who catches the ball. They don’t care who catches a touchdown. They’re just as excited for the next guy if it was them, and I think that that’s truly what we wanna build around here. I gotta get it to be the entire team. I gotta get the entire team to look at it like that.”
Elijah Ponder continues to look like a steal for the Patriots.
The 2025 undrafted free agent sacked Kirk Cousins twice on Sunday afternoon and finished with four pressures, per Next Gen Stats. Ponder has registered multiple quarterback hits in four straight games and is up to 4.5 sacks on the season.
“Baller. Baller. I’m not surprised at what he’s doing,” Milton Williams said. “He comes in every day with the same mindset just working at practice. Going the extra mile, taking care of his body and shoot, winning rushes. He’s out there doing what he’s supposed to do. He’s making the most of his opportunities so he’s going to keep getting more and more. I’m proud of him and I’m happy for him.”
Before departing with the shoulder injury, Dre’Mont Jones made a massive play while the game was still in doubt.
With the Patriots leading 14-7 late in the second quarter, the Raiders offense was driving. With the ball at the New England 27-yard line, Las Vegas tried to fool Jones with an end around. The edge rusher stayed home and blew the play up for an 11-yard loss. Knocked back, the Raiders wound up missing a field goal.
“That was a huge moment,” Raiders coach Klint Kubiak said. “Trying to make an aggressive play, their defensive end made a great play and sniffed it out, took a big negative loss there. That was a big play in the game.”
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