A tough task awaits the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 5 of the 2026 NFL season, as Klint Kubiak's team travels to face the New England Patriots. This will be the Raiders' second trip east in the last three weeks, their third road game in four contests, and their first time this year kicking off at 10 a.m. PST.
On top of that, the Mike Vrabel-led team is a lot better than their 2-2 record would indicate. While the reigning MVP runner-up, Drake Maye, should garner a lot of attention from Las Vegas in the game plan, the Patriots' secondary is also among the NFL's best when they are actually healthy.
And while it remains unclear if they will be available on Sunday when the Silver and Black come to town, either way, the plan of attack should be crystal clear for Kubiak's offense: find a way to target nickel defender Marcus Jones and New England's linebackers in coverage. That's a winning formula.
Raiders must know that Patriots' secondary is playing lights-out in 2026
Let's start with the Patriots' personnel in the defensive backfield. At cornerback, they have Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis, who are among the very best duos in the league. Gonzalez earned being the highest-paid corner in the league, and Davis is also a respected veteran with real shutdown ability.
At safety, the tandem of Craig Woodson and Kevin Byard is also stout, as the former is a rising star who was a pivotal part of last year's Super Bowl run, and the latter is another experienced player fresh off a Pro Bowl and First-Team All-Pro campaign. This group looks good on paper and on the field.
Through four games, this unit has allowed the fifth-fewest yards through the air and the fifth-fewest net yards per attempt. They have also collected two interceptions and 13 passes defended as a group so far, so they are attacking the football as well.
They played a good slate of quarterbacks in the first quarter of the season too, but New England has limited them to unimpressive stat lines, in large part because the secondary is playing lights-out. Here are those box scores from the four games.
Stat | Drew Lock | Aaron Rodgers | Trevor Lawrence | Josh Allen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Passing Yards | 187 | 187 | 182 | 253 |
Completion % | 72.7 | 58.9 | 65.5 | 69.7 |
Touchdowns | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
Interceptions | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Essentially, opposing quarterbacks are averaging just over 200 passing yards, slightly north of one touchdown, and just under an interception per game. And the superhero that is Josh Allen hurts those averages, but it is clear that they have feasted on other signal-callers.
Although Gonzalez, Davis and Woodson have all missed one game, those three and Byard have combined to give up just 211 yards all season when targeted. That's roughly 65 yards per game that this group is allowing, making this a certified no-fly zone. So, how do the Raiders attack aerially?
Las Vegas must stick to an obvious plan in Week 5 against New England
Well, the simple answer is just to pick on the players in New England who can't cover. Players like Marcus Jones in the slot and linebackers Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss have been abysmal at slowing down pass-catchers this year, as they've allowed a combined 411 receiving yards.
Putting linebackers on Brock Bowers has become a thing of the past, but Kubiak should be able to find creative ways to get him in obvious mismatches. He did it throughout the Super Bowl with Jaxon Smith-Njigba against the same defense, so Kubiak can do it again.
Michael Mayer is also built to abuse linebackers in coverage as well, and if the Patriots are crazy enough to put a 5-foot-8 Jones on Bowers or Mayer in the slot, then they will get what they deserve. The only wrinkle could be if Gonzalez, their CB1, follows Bowers around wherever he goes.
But the problem is that Gonzalez is not 100% healthy and did not practice on Wednesday, so his status for this weekend is in question. His backup, Charles Woods, has given up 96 yards in just 74 coverage snaps in 2026, and he got scored on last week. Their backup plan isn't exactly stout.
So, as has been the plan for the Raiders since Bowers came back, Kubiak needs to feed the tight ends. But even more important than just throwing it in their direction will be creatively scheming up Bowers and Mayer against Jones and the New England linebackers when possible.
These three haven't been able to stop a thing this year, and they certainly won't be able to slow down Las Vegas' tight end duo. Kubiak, if you're reading this, feed these two until they're full, and then make them another plate. They are the key to victory if you can keep them away from the Patriots' DBs.
Add us as a preferred source on Google