Raiders: Game breakdown and prediction for Week 3 at New England Patriots

The Las Vegas Raiders are set to take on the New England Patriots in Week 3.

Well, folks. It happened. The Las Vegas Raiders heated up in the middle of their Monday night game with the Saints and never looked back. Consider me dumbfounded.

The Saints started off the game strong, but then once Derek Carr started finding Darren Waller, who the Saints had no answer for, and then once Josh Jacobs and the run game started dominating, the Raiders took full control of that game.

Now laying in front of the 2-0 Raiders are Bill Belichick’s Patriots and Cam Newton playing at an MVP level (at least so far). This may wind up being the toughest test for this young Raiders team all season, at least in terms of the best defense they’ll see.

One thing Bill Belichick loves to do is terrorize young and middle-of-the-road established quarterbacks. Derek Carr is 0-2 in his career versus the Patriots. New England is 6-1 in their last seven and 8-3 in their last 11 meetings with the Raiders.

Under the name of the “New England Patriots” as oppose to when they were called “Boston,” this Patriots team is 6-2 at home all-time against the Raiders and also come into this game on a five-game winning streak against them.

On paper, this should be a very tough test for Derek Carr who has historically struggled against this team. Passer rating of 65.9, the fourth-worst rating if we look at all 31 teams he’s faced.

Completion percentage of 59.04, the fifth-worst percentage if we compare to all three teams he’s faced. One touchdown to two interceptions with just 411 yards passing in two career games.

Bill Belichick has so far done a number on Derek Carr with his defenses. This week may turn out to be no different.

Cam Newton is playing at an extremely high level so far in his return 2020 campaign. The Patriots have virtually no semblance of weaponry for him to throw to.

His top two receivers in Julian Edelman and N’Keal Harry are both questionable to play in this game after limited practices on Friday. He’ll also be missing his center David Andrews for this game.

The Raiders are also dealing with plenty of their own injuries.

But at the same time, the Raiders are all kinds of beat up as well with Trent Brown and Richie Incognito missing on the offensive line and Carr’s best two weapons in Waller and Jacobs both (much like Edelman and Harry) questionable to play and were limited in practice.

Both teams seem to be on the edge right now with injuries to try and overcome. I think the key to this game is going to be defense.

The Raiders did a good job last week of getting some pressure on Drew Brees who was without his best receiver in Michael Thomas — perhaps the best receiver in all of football.

This time, however, they have a much more mobile quarterback threat to deal with in Cam. And if the Pats can use the Raiders’ strategy against them and pound the run game, this will be a long day for the 2-0 Raiders.

I think this game is low-scoring and the Pats control it with the run game. The Raiders, though they have tons of potential, still cannot consistently show up on the defensive side of the ball.

And on the opposite side, I think Derek Carr is going to have issues dealing with the Pats secondary. You think Belichick hasn’t been preparing to shut down Darren Waller since Monday evening? He’s been preparing to shut him down since the Raiders announced his signing.

Here I go again not learning my lesson and picking against Las Vegas. Give me the Pats 28-14. I love the under 47.5 here. New England should do well on the scoreboard. The Raiders, I believe, could come out flat on the offensive side.

I’m 0-2 in game picks and 0-2 in spread picks for the Raiders this year already. 2-0 in over/unders, though. This game should be lovely.