{"id":350458,"date":"2025-09-08T02:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T02:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/350458\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T02:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T02:23:10","slug":"seven-takeaways-from-patriots-mistake-filled-loss-to-raiders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/350458\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Takeaways from Patriots’ Mistake-Filled Loss To Raiders"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New England Patriots dropped their season-opening matchup<\/a> with the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too harsh to say things looked the same, but they definitely didn\u2019t look different enough\u2026<\/p>\n

The Patriots allowed mistakes to tell the story of the entire game, as they fell into the same habit of watching things snowball once their momentum was halted. The Raiders looked better equipped to take advantage of mistakes \u2014 which is one of the many key takeaways coming out of the loss:<\/p>\n

MAYE STAYS ERRATIC<\/p>\n

Drake Maye has the tools to be as good as anyone, but there\u2019s an erraticism to his game<\/a> that doesn\u2019t appear to be going away any time soon.<\/p>\n

Maye had several misfires, which almost always came when his feet got tangled up or he was forced to make off-platform throws. It\u2019s been a process for him to find the right mechanics, and he\u2019ll occasionally make magic out of nothing, but the coaching staff needs to find a way for him to get into something of a rhythm.<\/p>\n

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Maye also needs to be better, as simple as that might sound.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

DUGGER STILL HAS A ROLE<\/p>\n

Kyle Dugger won\u2019t be nearly at noticeable as he\u2019s been in recent seasons<\/a>, but there\u2019s still room for him\u2026<\/p>\n

The Patriots opened the game with three safeties on the field, with Dugger joining veteran Jaylinn Hawkins and rookie Craig Woodson. The Raiders opened with a two-tight end set featuring Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer, which likely will be sort of personnel groupings that get the former captain on the field this season \u2014 outside of special teams packages, where he remains a staple.<\/p>\n

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The Pittsburgh Steelers (Pat Freiermuth and Jonnu Smith), Buffalo Bills (Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox) and Cleveland Browns (David Njoku and Harold Fannin Jr.) are some notable opponents who could cause us to see more Dugger.<\/p>\n

BOUTTE\u2019S BREAKOUT<\/p>\n

Kayshon Boutte has become the most consistent receiver on the roster<\/a>, as he finished with four first-down receptions in the loss \u2014 totaling six catches for 103 yards to lead the way for New England.<\/p>\n

Boutte\u2019s continued success should allow the club to bring some newcomers \u2014 Kyle Williams and Efton Chism III \u2014 along slowly.<\/p>\n

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The Patriots can\u2019t survive unless they\u2019re playing complimentary football, and we saw a few great examples in this one.<\/p>\n

Carlton Davis III and Jaylinn Hawkins combined for an interception in the first quarter, which was followed up by a long touchdown drive in which the offense kept itself ahead of the sticks and marched down the field.<\/p>\n

Maye\u2019s interception on the first drive of the second half immediately led to the worst defensive drive of the game, where the defense immediately allowed two chunk plays to begin a five-play touchdown drive.<\/p>\n

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New England isn\u2019t talented enough for things not to line up.<\/p>\n

CAMPBELL\u2019S BLUNDERS<\/p>\n

Will Campbell wasn\u2019t a complete and total disaster, but he definitely didn\u2019t look like the fourth overall pick.<\/p>\n

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Campbell gave up two sacks and was called for two false start penalties \u2014 the second of which forced the offense off the field and essentially ended the game late in the fourth quarter. The Patriots need more out of him \u2014 plain and simple.<\/p>\n

BOOT THE KICKER<\/p>\n

Andy Borregales didn\u2019t win his position battle with Parker Romo.<\/p>\n

The Patriots handed him the job, mostly because they didn\u2019t want to look foolish<\/a> for cutting their sixth-round pick, but also partly due to the fact that they assumed the kid would find more consistency without someone breathing down his neck.<\/p>\n

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Borregales made two attempts from 35 and 44, and missed another from 40.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s far from the organization\u2019s biggest problem, but they might want to have a long leash for the rookie.<\/p>\n

STAFF UPGRADES APPARENT<\/p>\n

Mike Vrabel\u2019s players were put in a position to win and failed.<\/p>\n

The Patriots did everything in their power to cover up their shortcomings \u2014 scheming up pressure from the defense, keeping the offense ahead of the chains, making sure they won the field position battle, etc.<\/p>\n

Vrabel played the clock perfectly toward the end of the game, though an inexcusable lapse in coverage essentially ended the teams chances of taking advantage. It\u2019ll take time to get things right, but they seem to have the right people in position to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New England Patriots dropped their season-opening matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. It\u2019s too harsh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[833,7,6306,7882,838,351],"class_list":{"0":"post-350458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-drake-maye","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kayshon-boutte","11":"tag-kyle-dugger","12":"tag-mike-vrabel","13":"tag-will-campbell"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115166301748480146","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}