New England Patriots Lose Bill Belichick 'Alumni Game' to Las Vegas Raiders
Bill Belichick is nothing if not consistent.
Entering a Sunday matchup against a Las Vegas Raiders roster packed with former Foxborough friends, the New England Patriots' long-tenured head coach wasn't interested in turning a visit to Allegiant Stadium into a homecoming weekend.
Belichick's indifference toward facing Jakobi Meyers, the top receiver for last season's mediocre group, defined that best. As the Patriots' chief decision-maker, Belichick had no issue letting Jones go without much of a fight, amping up his usual brand of muted snark to 11.
“A lot of guys leave and change teams in free agency," Belichick boldly declared in the lead-up to Sunday's slugfest. "But Jakobi looks like he looked here.”
That, in fact, is the problem.
Meyers' Foxborough follies are best defined, ironically, by his ill-fated, ill-advised lateral that served to derail the Patriots' new-decade affairs last season (they're 2-8 since backward pass blooper). But the relative consistency and reliability of Meyers is something the Patriots could use right now. The fifth-year man proved that and then some in a return to the scene of the crime against football, scoring the first touchdown in an eventual 21-17 win for the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium.
One never wants to use the term "must-win" in October, but the Patriots (1-5) likely would've qualified for one on Sunday. The only reason why the term could've escaped might well have been the idea that it's too late to fix anything at this rate. Even if they left Las Vegas with a win, the road gets no easier with showdowns against angry, able divisional competition looming over the next two weeks.
But to get through this lost season, to get through the week, to perhaps even salvage what future Belichick has left in Foxborough ... they had to cash their chips against the Raiders.
Belichick has shown his cards: one flip yielded JuJu Smith-Schuster. Another brought about an extension for DeVante Parker. One can't fault the team for trying to milk the Tom Brady era for as long as he would allow it, but Mac Jones is forever tasked with proving he was a better successor than Jimmy Garoppolo.
In each case, the house won. The only souvenir New England is coming home with is a pocket full of questions over Belichick's thought process and ideals once Tom Brady and/or Lawrence Taylor are out of the picture.
Myles Bryant and the Patriots lost Sunday to the Raiders, better known as Patriots West.
Meyers ended the game with 61 yards. Beyond 89 yards from Kendrick Bourne (who needed 10 receptions to reach it), no other two Patriots receivers united to earn that total. Smith-Schuster was inactive for Sunday's game, but his prior box scores (53 yards over the prior four games) suggest there wasn't much he'd be able to do to counter it. Parker's seven-yard reception was quickly disregarded: a rare successful deep ball from Jones, reportedly on a "short leash," was dropped in the penultimate minute and stifled any idea of momentum for a final drive.
Left to ponder the whole thing is Belichick and his dwindling band of supporters. What went to Vegas could unequivocally be described as "Bill's Team," a label he so clearly coveted once Brady took his talents to Gandy Beach. The fact his team dropped a 21-17 decision to a meandering Raiders group consisting of his castaways says an uncomfortable lot.
Playing for pride came a little earlier than expected for a Patriots team burdened with no expectations. In a Vegas hangover hazier than the one endured by the "Wolfpack," they failed to even do that.
