Patriots-Raiders Week 6 news, notes, and fun facts

FOXBORO -- The Patriots are heading to Las Vegas this weekend to face the Raiders for a second straight season. Let's hope it goes much better than last year's visit to Sin City.

Yeah, you remember that game. It's one Patriots fans want to power wash from their memories. But it's going to be everywhere this week, and you're going to see that Jakobi Meyers-Rhamondre Stevenson-Mac Jones lateral debacle over and over and over and over again.

At least enough time has passed that we can all admit this is an incredible entry into the dejected Mac Jones gallery.

We may never see a team walk off with a win like that -- or slump off the field after a loss like that -- ever again.

But enough about the negativity of the past. It's time to focus on the negativity of the present. At 1-4 off the heels of back to back blowout losses, the Patriots remain desperate for a win. The Raiders, meanwhile, find themselves a little less desperate at 2-3 after beating the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football despite some really baffling play-calling by Josh McDaniels late in the game. 

Will the Patriots both avenge last season's embarrassing loss in Vegas and (momentarily, at least) save their 2023 season? Or will McDaniels and his Raiders beat his former team for the second straight season?

Here's all you need to know heading into Sunday's matchup. 

Patriots vs. Raiders

-The Patriots and the Raiders have been facing each other since 1960, when both were charter members of the American Football League. 

-The Patriots hold an 18-15-1 edge in their regular season matchups, and a 2-1 advantage in the playoffs.

-The Pats are 7-10 overall against the Raiders on the road. That includes a 33-8 win by the Patriots at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City in 2017.

-Don't expect a lot of scoring this weekend: The Patriots are the worst team in the league at putting points on the scoreboard, averaging just 11.0 points per game. They are scoring just 10.6 points per game on offense. 

The Raiders aren't much better, tied for 29th at 15.8 points per game.

-The Patriots are only slightly better than the Raiders in terms of total yardage per game, averaging 287.4 yards per contest (ranking 26th in the NFL) to Vegas' 281.2 yards per game (29th).

-The Patriots have been bad at running the ball, but the Raiders have somehow been worse. New England is averaging just 83.8 rush yards per game, but Vegas is last in the NFL at 71.4 yards per game, despite employing last season's rushing king in Josh Jacobs.

-Maybe Rhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott will be able to get going this weekend. The Raiders' defense is allowing 129.4 yards on the ground per game, ranking 23rd in the NFL.

-Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo leads the NFL with seven interceptions in just four games.

-Las Vegas defensive end Maxx Crosby coming off the edge will be a big issue for the Patriots' offensive line on Sunday. Crosby has five sacks already this season, with four of those coming in the last three games. He didn't get to Jones last season when the Patriots visited Allegiant Stadium, but he had a two-sack game when the Raiders came to New England in 2020.

-Mac Jones completed just 13 of his 31 passes against the Raiders last season. His completion percentage of just 41.9 percent that game is the lowest of his career.

Connections

Sit back and relax. There are a lot of them.

-We'll start with Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels, who was with the Patriots from 2001-08 and 2012-21. He is 2-0 as a head coach against Bill Belichick.

-McDaniels brought a lot New England staffers with him to Vegas, including GM Dave Zeigler (with the Pats from 2013-21), offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi (2011-12, 2019-21), offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo (2019-21), and quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree (2021).

-Las Vegas offensive assistant Mike Judge (2003-05) and senior defensive analyst Rob Ryan (2000-03) also spent time on Bill Belichick's staff in New England.

-Former Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is now the starting quarterback of the Raiders. His backup is former Patriots backup Brian Hoyer.

-Jakobi Meyers is now catching passes from Garoppolo, with 25 receptions and three touchdown catches in his first season as a Raider. Las Vegas gave Meyers a three-year, $30 million contract over the offseason.

-Anyone else? Yes: Running back Brandon Bolden, fullback Jakob Johnson, and tackle Justin Herron are all former Patriots.

-The Patriots have three former Raiders on their roster: Trent Brown, Pharaoh Brown, and Raekwon McMillan.

Other stuff you need to know

-Bill Belichick has one at least one game in 50 different NFL stadiums. There are only two current stadiums that the Patriots head coach hasn't collected a victory at: US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, and Allegiant Stadium in Vegas.

-Belichick's next win will be the 300th regular season win of his career. He'd join Don Shula (328) and George Halas (318) as the only other NFL head coaches with 300 wins in the regular season.  (Yes this tidbit was a simple copy and paste job from last week the last two weeks.)

-The Patriots have recorded a sack in 24 straight games, tied with Carolina for the third-longest active streak behind Kansas City (25) and Baltimore (26). New England's record for most games with at least one sack is 36 games, which the team accomplished from 1976-78.

Tune in to Patriots-Raiders on WBZ-TV -- the television home of the New England Patriots. Coverage begins Wednesday night with Patriots 1st Down at 9:30pm on Wednesday night, and continues Friday with Patriots All Access at 7pm on WBZ. Pregame coverage begins Sunday morning at 11:30am with Patriots GameDay, the Pats and the Raiders will kick off just after 4pm, and after the game tune in to Patriots 5th Quarter on TV38!