Patriots Live Blog: Pats Hang On For 16-9 Win Over Raiders

Final, 16-9 Patriots: Three kneeldowns by Brady and a lofted incompletion, and this game is over.

Nobody expected the Patriots to struggle so mightily, but they were able to come away with a win. Obviously, a lot has to be done in the upcoming week, but for now, the Patriots can at least breathe a little sigh of relief.

Fourth quarter, :51, 16-9 Patriots: Vince Wilfork came up with the game-deciding interception. Yup, Vince Wilfork.

Carr made a shaky decision to pass over the middle to Moore, and Ryan delivered a heavy hit. The ball popped up and right into Wilfork's bread basket. That should do it.

Fourth quarter, :59, 16-9 Patriots: The Raiders just scored the game-tying touchdown ... except it didn't count! A holding call pushes the ball back to the 16-yard line.

The Raiders got to the 6-yard line after a bogus pass interference call on Logan Ryan, so perhaps things are somewhat even now.

Fourth quarter, 2:00, 16-9 Patriots: The Raiders are inching their way toward the end zone, after James Jones beats Darelle Revis for an 18-yard gain along the right sideline.

It's now first-and-10 Oakland at the New England 33-yard line. Hold on to your hats here.

Fourth quarter, 3:12, 16-9 Patriots: With nowhere to throw on second down, Brady took an 8-yard loss on a sack. He completed a pass to LaFell on third down, but it was shy of the first down. The Raiders take over, trailing by just 7, at their own 38-yard line after a decent return by T.J. Carrie.

Fourth quarter, 5:18, 16-9 Patriots: In a gotta-have-it drive, the Raiders gain just 1 yard. Dont'a Hightower crushed McFadden on a short pass on first down, Logan Ryan broke up a pass on second down, and Carr's scramble-and-throw was unsuccessful on third down. The Patriots take over after a fair catch from Edelman at the New England 27-yard line.

Fourth quarter, 6:20, 16-9 Patriots: A near-interception resulted when Brady was walloped while delivering a second down pass, and the third-down pass to LaFell skipped along the turf. Stephen Gostkowski came on to kick a 36-yard field goal, which he made, and the Patriots now lead by 7.

They drove 12 plays for 63 yards there, but once again the drive stalled in the red zone. They've crossed the Oakland 20-yard line four times today, and they have just one touchdown to show for it.

Fourth quarter, 7:07, 13-9 Patriots: The loudest roar from the crowd of the whole day comes after Brady blocks for Shane Vereen after the running back improvised and reversed field. Two plays later, Brady weaved his way out of pressure to find space and deliver a bullet to Brandon LaFell.

It's first-and-10 from the Oakland 20, after the Raiders just used their first timeout of the half.

Fourth quarter, 9:47, 13-9 Patriots: With Bryan Stork in the game and Jordan Devey now out, the Patriots are driving. Julian Edelman made an impressive catch along the sideline for a gain of 15 yards to start the drive, Ridley ran off the right tackle for five yards, and Edelman then caught a pass over the middle while getting crushed by LaMarr Woodley. But the Raiders challenged the play, and this one's definitely coming back. Edelman clearly lost possession in the midst of getting rocked.

It'll be third-and-5 from the New England 39-yard line when this call is overturned.

Fourth quarter, 11:15, 13-9 Patriots: For just the second time today, the Pats' D forces a three-and-out. This one was impressive, as the defense stopped Latavius Murray on consecutive plays when the Raiders needed just one yard. Rob Ninkovich wrapped him up behind the LOS on third down, and a whole gang of blue jerseys swarmed on the ball carrier.

It's first-and-10 for the Patriots on their own 19-yard line, the offense still very much looking lost.

Fourth quarter, 13:42, 13-9 Patriots: New England looked to be in good shape after Brady connected with Edelman to get the ball to the 2-yard line (Edelman tried to leap over two defenders and ended up getting flipped over, lucky to land safely without injury). But the drive stalled at the 2-yard line, with a no-gainer from Vereen, a Charles Woodson tipped pass that ended up slipping right through Gronk's Hamburger Helper mitts, and a just-missed pass to Amendola on the goal line on third down.

Gostkowski came on to kick a field goal, but that's a failure of an ending to that drive for the Patriots. An ugly game didn't get any prettier there.

End of third quarter, 10-9 Patriots: New England has once again driven into the red zone, thanks to a 20-yard pass to Tim Wright (whoa!) and a 16-yard pass to Kenbrell Thompkins (whoa times two!). It'll be second-and-9 from the Oakland 12-yard line when the fourth quarter begins. I anticipate Brady will look toward Mr. Gronkowski for six in one of the next two plays.

Third quarter, 2:21, 10-9 Patriots: It's now a one-point game.

The Raiders drove 50 yards on nine plays, most of it picked up on a 29-yard pass to Andre Holmes along the left sideline. Nate Ebner came up with his second third-down stop of the day by tackling Jones short of the sticks, but Janikowski easily drilled a 47-yarder, his third FG of the game, and it's now just 10-9. Few, if any, saw the game playing out this way.

Third quarter, 6:09, 10-6 Patriots: The Pats had something going on that drive, but Tom Brady got absolutely crushed by Khalil Mack while delivering a pass on third-and-4 at midfield. Allen's punt was fair caught at the Oakland 14-yard line, and the Raiders will be looking to take a lead on this drive. They've yet to take one shot deep, and I think it'll come on this drive. You have to try at some point, right?

Third quarter, 9:39, 10-6 Patriots: The Pats got lucky there, as Denarius Moore was left all alone on a third-and-5. But Derek Carr rushed his throw and underthrew his receiver, and Moore wasn't able to make a catch on a ball a professional wide receiver should probably be catching. So Sebastian Janikowski came on for a 37-yard field goal and drilled it, and it's a four-point game.

The atmosphere inside Gillette right now is pretty stale. The fans haven't had much to cheer about.

Third quarter, 12:52, 10-3 Patriots: The double score? Yeah, not going to happen, thanks to a negative run on second-and-7 and a false start penalty on Jordan Devey led to a third-and-15. Brady took a shotgun snap and then got walloped by Justin Tuck for a five-yard sack.

Ryan Allen punted, and the Raiders take over near midfield. Another ugly series for the offense.

Third quarter, 15:00, 10-3 Patriots: The second half is underway. First-and-10 Patriots at their own 20.

Halftime, 10-3 Patriots: A bad shotgun snap on third down nearly cost the Patriots points, but Brady was able to scramble to pick the ball up off the turf and throw a wild incompletion over Shane Vereen's head. That stopped the clock with 3 seconds left, and Gostkowski hit the chip shot as time expired.

That was unmistakable a missed opportunity for New England, and the decision to allow the clock to run down from about 40 seconds to 12 seconds before the second-down inside handoff was extremely questionable. That forced the Patriots to use up their final timeout and forced them to call a passing play from the 2-yard line. Botched snap aside, it's awfully difficult to score on a passing play from the 2-yard line when the opponent knows you're passing the ball.

But the Pats salvaged a field goal, they lead by a touchdown, and they'll look to stretch it to a 17-3 lead coming out of the half. There's no way Tom Brady -- or anyone else, for that matter -- is going to feel too good right now.

Brady is 12-for-17 for 76 yards and a touchdown. Ridley has 47 yards on 12 carries, and Edelman leads all receivers with 47 yards through the air.

Second quarter, 1:06, 7-3 Patriots: The Raiders completely lost track of Rob Gronkowski, and Brady connected with him for a 14-yard pitch and catch that ended with Gronk barreling over three human beings. Classic Gronkowski on display there.

It's second-and-6 from the 9 coming out of this timeout.

Second quarter, 2:45, 7-3 Patriots: Following a terrible play by Oakland on third-and-short, the Raiders punted, and it was a bad one. King's punt landed around the New England 30 but bounced backward to the 47-yard line. It was just a 22-yard punt, and the Pats are in prime position to pull off the first leg of the dreaded "double score" -- that is, a score before the half, and a score to start the second half, when they'll receive to start.

Second quarter, 4:14, 7-3 Patriots: The Patriots chose not to run the ball on third-and-2, instead sending Gronkowski on a simple crossing route. Brady hit Gronk as he was running across the goal line for an easy six, and the Pats now lead 7-3.

That was a thorough drive by New England, as it covered 84 yards on 15 plays while chewing up 6:43 off the clock.

Second quarter, 4:18, 3-0 Raiders: Thanks to an iffy pass interference penalty on Tarell Brown, the Pats are on the doorstep. They just called their first timeout of the half, facing a third-and-2 from the 6-yard line. It's been all Julian Edelman on this drive, as he has four receptions for 33 yards and also drew the PI penalty with some solid flopping.

The Patriots should run it here. And if they don't pick up the first down, they should run the ball on fourth down. There's no way the Raiders would stop them on the ground twice.

Second quarter, 6:33, 3-0 Raiders: Oakland just used their final timeout of the half in the midst of a sustained Patriots drive.

The Pats have picked up 39 yards on 10 plays, including three third-down conversions. It'll be first-and-10 on the Oakland 36-yard line on the other side of this timeout.

Second quarter, 10:57, 3-0 Raiders: The Patriots eventually came up with a stop, but it wasn't easy.

On a third-and-7, Carr had good protection, patted the ball a couple of times, and waited for Streater to break open across the middle of the field. They connected for a gain of 14 yards, with Logan Ryan a step behind in coverage.

Two plays later, Dont'a Hightower read a poorly disguised bubble screen to Marcel Reese, forcing a third-and-long. Nate Ebner made the stop, tackling Rivera along the left sideline and forcing an Oakland punt.

Rod Streater was injured on that third-down play. He has three catches for 32 yards today, so if he can't return, the Oakland offense will miss him dearly.

Marquette King's punt, which came after a false start penalty, came down at the 10-yard line, and Edelman brought it up to the 15 before getting mauled by a sea of white jerseys. Can the offense get something going here?

End of first quarter, 3-0 Raiders: It's first-and-10 for Oakland at their own 28-yard line when the second quarter begins, after Carr just hit Moore for a first down pickup.

Brady finishes that quarter with zero yards on 3-of-5 passing. I'm not sure how many quarters in his entire career he's thrown for zero yards. The Raiders lead in yards, 81-23. The Patriots desperately need a spark, be it in the form of an interception or a sack or a punt return, or something. They are stuck in the mud right now.

First quarter, :36, 3-0 Raiders: The Patriots' ground game was rolling right along, as the team had gained 21 yards in the blink of an eye. But a holding penalty on Cameron Fleming set them back to a first-and-20 situation, and everything went wrong after that. They ran a ridiculous fake end around/screen pass to Vereen and it developed incredibly slowly, setting up a second-and-25. A bad run set up third-and-22. Brady almost got killed, the Pats got called for holding, and then they had to punt. Ugly stuff. The boobirds are out at Gillette, as nobody in this crowd is happy to see a Patriots offense with just 23 yards thus far.

First quarter, 4:37, 3-0 Raiders: On third down, Chandler Jones got his big mitt up in the air to knock down Carr's pass, forcing a 49-yard field goal attempt by Janikowski. The left-footed kicker drilled it (his first of the year), and the Raiders are up 3-0.

First quarter, 4:46, 0-0: After a failure of a third-down quick screen for a 6-yard loss (Oakland got penalized for an illegal formation; the Patriots declined), the Raiders had to call their second timeout.

Injury note: Sealver Siliga has left the game due to a foot injury and his return is questionable.

First quarter, 5:14, 0-0: The Raiders just called their first timeout, but they're driving. They're facing a second-and-8 at the New England 25-yard line. A brief recap of how they got there:

Revis Island got a little bit yellow, as his physical coverage on Andre Holmes caused the flags to fly. The play didn't count though, as an illegal substitution and a holding penalty on Oakland counteracted the pass interference penalty on Darrelle Revis, and the Raiders replayed the first down near midfield.

The Raiders got out to a strong start on that drive, picking up 27 yards on the first four plays. A Rob Ninkovich QB pressure on second-and-7 following the penalties set up a third down, and Derek Carr stood tall in the pocket to deliver a pass right on the money to Rod Streater for a gain of 9 to move the sticks.

Two plays later, Streater got open on a comeback route along the right sideline, and Carr hit him for a gain of 9 yards.

First quarter, 10;47, 0-0: That was a rather funky start for the Patriots offense. It looked like everything was scripted, as Brady got rid of the ball very quickly on all three plays. On first down, he passed to Brandon LaFell, who gained no separation on a comeback along the right sideline. On second down, Brady took a quick drop and unleashed a bullet toward Shane Vereen, who was unable to make a difficult catch. On third down, the Patriots ran a quick screen to LaFell, and he picked up just four yards.

Not exactly the type of start the offense wanted.

First-and-10 Oakland at their own 19 after a strong boot by Ryan Allen and a penalty on the return.

First quarter, 11:44, 0-0: The Raiders, after looking completely out of sorts on the first snap, were able to pick up one first down on a short pass to Mychal Rivera. But three plays later, Derek Carr stared down Denarius Moore, and Kyle Arrington was able to make a nice pass breakup to force a punt.

Edelman fair caught the punt at the New England 18, and it's now first-and-10 for Tom Brady.

First quarter, 15:00: Stephen Gostkowski's opening kick was deep enough for a touchback, and the Raiders will start on their own 20.

1 p.m.: The coin toss just took place at midfield. Oakland called for heads, and the coin toss landed tails. The Patriots elected to defer.

12:36 p.m.: The teams are wrapping up warmups on the field, and Mark Wahlberg is standing on the sideline as a guest of Robert Kraft. It won't be long now till this one kicks off.

11:47 a.m.: The list of inactive players for the Patriots is:

WR Aaron Dobson
CB Alfonzo Dennard
S Don Jones
OL Josh Kline
C Ryan Wendell
RB James White
DL Zach Moore

Wendell was limited with a knee injury this week and was listed as questionable on Friday's injury report, as was Dennard (shoulder) and Jones (hamstring). Dobson is a healthy scratch, as are rookie running back James White and D-lineman Zach Moore.

With Wendell out, expect a heavy dose of Bryan Stork on the interior of the line, perhaps at center. We'll see what Belichick does there.

Notably absent from the list are Jamie Collins (thigh), Shane Vereen (shoulder) and Michael Buchanan (ankle), all of whom were listed as questionable.

Dan Connolly, Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski and Sealver Siliga were all listed as probable, and they'll all play.

11:30 a.m.: The following players will be inactive for Oakland:

QB Matt Schaub
RB Maurice Jones-Drew
CB Chimdi Chekwa
LB Sio Moore
LB Nick Roach
G Tony Bergstrom
T Matt McCants

Schaub is absent due to his wife delivering their baby via emergency C-section, Jones-Drew is out with a hand injury, and Chekwa is out with a knee injury. Of that group, only Moore was declared "out" on Friday's injury report.

Antonio Smith, who was added to Friday's injury report with a back ailment, will be active today.

11:10 a.m.: If you're looking for some pregame reading material, we've got you covered:

What To Watch For: Stevan Ridley Poised For Big Day Vs. Raiders

Final Chapter For Brady-Woodson?

Patriots Blog: Pats-Raiders Notes And Fun Facts

5 Ways Tom Brady's Life Could Have Panned Out

And if you haven't yet read the detailed Outside The Lines report on the Ray Rice story, this is a good long read to sink your teeth into.

11 a.m.: It's a glorious September day in Massachusetts, and Gillette Stadium is ready to host some football.

The Oakland Raiders are in town to serve as the sacrificial lamb visiting opponent for the New England Patriots, who enter today's contest with a 1-1 record and a desire to really straighten things out offensively this afternoon.

The Raiders, many of whom are out on the field right now for some extended warmups, are 0-2 on the year, outscored by opponents 49-28. They have a rookie quarterback, no run game to speak of, and a rush defense that has allowed 200 yards per game. Obviously some strange things tend to happen week to week in the NFL, but the Patriots have no business letting the Raiders compete in this game.

Here's a look inside the stadium on a warm, partly cloudy day in Foxboro:

It's currently 76 degrees, but it's very humid. There's a chance of some rain sneaking in late in this game, but it's likely the field will remain dry from start to finish.

I'll have updates right here in the live blog throughout pregame (including the inactive lists for both teams) as well as updates and analysis throughout the entire game, so check back frequently.

Read more from Michael Hurley by clicking here, or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.