Week 3 – Raiders at New England Patriots
One of the big story lines coming in to the offseason was whether legendary New England Patriots quarterback and long-time Raiders nemesis Tom Brady would be suiting up for the Silver and Black. Obviously that did not materialize and if you believe current starter Derek Carr, there wasn’t much to the story aside from the Raiders watching some of his game tape from 2019.
Brady did indeed leave New England to become a pirate but he’ll be wearing pewter and red in 2020 and not Silver and Black. His departure does take some of the sting out of the matchup from a narrative perspective but the Patriots are still a dangerous team no matter who is under center.
Thanks to Bill Belichick and a host of defensive playmakers, the Patriots finished the season with the best defense in the NFL and were possibly a Julian Edelman drop away from advancing in the playoffs. There are still some question marks at the QB position for the Pats but it appears that second year QB Jarrett Stidham will be handed the reins after Brady’s departure.
Stidham looked awful in his cameo appearance in the regular season but will now have a full offseason as the starting quarterback to show what he can do. The Patriots also have a veteran backup in Brian Hoyer who has shown he can win games when called upon during his journeyman career.
Regardless of who is playing QB for the Patriots, they still have arguably the greatest coach in NFL history and one of the best minds in the game roaming the sideline so they will always be a force to be reckoned with. The upside here is that the Raiders will get this Foxboro clash out of the way in September rather than December or January.