Four Ups, Four Downs from Patriots' insane loss to Raiders

BOSTON -- It's genuinely difficult to get past the final 30-something seconds of Sunday's Patriots loss to the Raiders. It was the insane finish to end all insane finishes.

But ... there was a full 59-plus minutes before that controversial touchdown ruling and before that unfathomable lateral play cost the Patriots a chance to play in overtime.

Again ... the head-scratching ruling from the league office in New York would have been hard enough to mentally get past following that game. The historically bad decision by Jakobi Meyers to throw the ball across the entire field to lose the game would have likewise been hard enough to get past mentally after that game. Both of those incidents happening in rapid succession is certainly too much to digest.

Nevertheless, here's a look at the Ups and Downs from the entire 60-minute football game on Sunday, which the Raiders won 30-24.

Four Downs

Rhamondre Stevenson, Jakobi Meyers

This one is self-explanatory. A more stunning play has never been made. With the game tied, there was no reason to try any of that. While Stevenson's pitch wasn't overly dangerous, it did kick-start a very bad sequence for New England. Had he just gone down, the game -- and the Patriots' playoff lives -- would have lived on.

(Mac Jones blamed himself for not tackling Chandler Jones. I get it. But nobody on this planet would ever expected Mac Jones to tackle Chandler Jones.)

Matt Patricia and Bill Belichick

The sequence at the Raiders' goal line in the second quarter was dysfunctional. A first-and-goal from the 2-yard line resulted in a short run, an incompletion, a timeout to negate a touchdown, another incompletion, another timeout, then a procedure penalty to move the ball back to the 6-yard line. Matt Patricia froze twice in getting calls to the quarterback in that sequence, as the first-time offensive play-caller never does seem to anticipate too far into the future when calling those plays. It cost the Patriots four points that really should have been easy.

Making matters worse -- that was the first time all year that the Raiders did not allow a touchdown when the opponent faced a goal-to-go situation.

(Belichick is on the heading here because he informed everyone to blame him if the offensive coaching setup did not work.)

Adrian Phillips, Jabrill Peppers, Joe Cardona, Cam Achord

There wasn't any finger-pointing for the blocked punt allowed by the Patriots, but clearly, things were off quite a bit. Jabrill Peppers and Adrian Phillips were looking at each other and pointing out their blocks when Joe Cardona snapped the ball to Michael Palardy. Malcolm Koonce rushed in untouched and easily blocked the punt, allowing the Raiders to drive just 20 yards for a touchdown before halftime.

The Patriots allowed three blocked punts last year but had cleaned up their issues this season. Until Sunday. Special teams coordinator Cam Achord was clearly upset after the play, which was a massive one in a contest where points were hard to come by.

Mac Jones

Throughout most of the Patriots' offensive struggles this year, the quarterback hasn't really been bad. On Sunday, he was bad.

Jones completed just 13 of his 31 passes for 112 yards. He didn't throw any touchdowns or picks, and he didn't take any sacks. But he also missed some open receivers, including Jonnu Smith in the end zone during that goal-line sequence. He led Tyquan Thornton out of bounds on another play, and he overthrew an open Meyers on another.

Jones was just 2-for-8 on his third-down passes, converting one of those for a first down.

It was a bad day for the Pats' QB.

Four Ups

Rhamondre Stevenson, Jakobi Meyers

Isn't that cruel? The two players who committed the game-losing gaffe were also the best offensive players on the team.

Stevenson rushed for 172 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, while Meyers caught two passes for 47 yards -- including the 39-yarder that helped set up Stevenson's touchdown run. 

Kyle Dugger

The Patriots can't win many games against good teams without scoring on defense or special teams. Had this one been a win -- it should have -- then Kyle Dugger's pick-six would have supplied that score.

Dugger intercepted Derek Carr on the first Vegas drive of the second half, kicking off a stretch of dominance for the New England defense -- a stretch that lasted right up until the Raiders faced a fourth-and-10 on their final drive. 

Defensive line/secondary complementary football (until the end)

Despite arguably the best skill position group in the NFL, the Patriots' secondary held up pretty well. They were aided in a big way by a defensive front limited Josh Jacobs from taking over the game and kept constant pressure on Carr.

Ja'Whaun Bentley recorded a sck, while Lawrence Guy, Davon Godchaux, Christian Barmore and Josh Uche each had a half-sack. Guy had another QB hit as well. On the back end, Jonathan Jones and Marcus Jones each had a PBU, in addition to Dugger's pick-six.

The defensive strategy changed on that final drive, making all of that for naught.

Nick Folk

The veteran kicker's leg was in question after he had come up short on a few kicks in recent games. But he was good in Arizona from 54, and he was good in Las Vegas from 51. The Patriots can't win many games if Folk isn't drilling field goals, and the kicker kept his team in it with another perfect day on Sunday.

Bonus Down

Walt Anderson

The NFL's VP of officiating said that there weren't any clear angles of Keelan Cole's foot being out of bounds. That seems ... highly suspect.

While the baffling play by Meyers and Stevenson will be the story of the game, the NFL shouldn't be let off the hook for this one, as Anderson is making a habit of offering up some rather confounding explanations for his decisions on behalf of NFL officiating.

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.