Raiders-Patriots Go Way Back

The Las Vegas Raiders and the New England Patriots have a rivalry that goes back a lot further than this week's joint practices.

The Las Vegas Raiders are engaging in joint practices with the New England Patriots this week before playing the Pats in their final game of the preseason on Friday at 5:15 p.m. (PDT) at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

It will be interesting to see Josh McDaniels, in his first year as head coach of the Raiders, going against his mentor, Bill Belichick, who has led the Patriots to a record six Super Bowl victories, and McDaniels was part of them all as an assistant coach.

Of course, this is only preseason, and it should be much more interesting when the Patriots return to Allegiant Stadium for a regular-season game on Dec. 18, when both teams hope to be battling for playoff spots and perhaps division titles.

But the Raiders vs. the Patriots is nothing new, as both teams trace their history to the inaugural season of the American Football League in 1960, when the Boston Patriots played home games at Boston University Field, Nickerson Field in Boston, Harvard Stadium, Fenway Park and Harvard Stadium for several seasons before moving to Foxborough, Mass., in 1971.

That’s when they were renamed the New England Patriots.

The Patriots lead the all-time series, 20-15-1, including 2-1 in memorable playoff games, by winning the last six in a row and seven of the last eight overall as the Raiders have struggled in recent seasons, although the Silver and Black has outscored the Pats, 845-833 over the years.

During that initial season in 1960, the Raiders downed the Patriots, 27-14, in the first game in the history of the series at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, when Jack Larscheid ran 87 yards for a touchdown and Billy Lott went 40 yards for the clincher.

That came after quarterback Tom Flores threw touchdown passes of 36 yards to Gene Prebola and nine yards to Al Hoisington as the Silver and Black built a 21-6 lead.

The Patriots got their revenge later in the season at Nickerson Field in Boston with a 34-28 victory when New England built a 34-14 lead on three touchdown passes by quarterback Butch Songin and two field goals by Gino Cappelletti, before Tony Teresa of the Raiders ran for two late touchdowns to give him three for the game on 91 yards rushing.

The Raiders lost their first 13 games of the 1962 season before downing the Patriots, 20-0, in the season finale at Frank Youell Field in Oakland one year before Al Davis came in 1963 and turned the franchise around, but the Patriots beat the Raiders, 20-14, the next season in their first game at Fenway Park.

Since they have always been in different divisions, the Raiders and Patriots have usually met only once a year, except for the playoffs.

The first time they met in the post-season in 1976at the Oakland Coliseum, after the Patriots had routed the Raiders, 48-17, early in the regular season in Foxborough, and quarterback Kenny “Snake” Stabler ran one-yard for a touchdown behind pulling guard Gene Upshaw in the final minutes to give the Raiders a 24-21 victory over the Patriots.

Linebacker Phil Villapiano intercepted a pass to clinch the victory, but the Patriots cried foul because they were penalized 15 yards on the play before Stabler’s touchdown when defensive lineman Ray “Sugar Bear” Hamilton was penalized 15 yards for hitting Snake in the head on a sack.

“It was just football,” Stabler said, as that was the first season the NFL ruled hitting the quarterback in the head a penalty. “If they hadn’t called the penalty, it wouldn’t have bother me because we had a couple plays left and I believe we would have figured out a way to score.”

Of course, the Raiders have a complaint of their own in a playoff game against the Patriots, as quarterback Tom Brady was being sacked by cornerback Charles Woodson and fumbled, with linebacker Greg Biekert recovering to seemingly clinch victory in a 2001 AFC Divisional Playoff game.

Brady got up and ran off the field without any dispute because he knew he had fumbled.

However, after looking at replays, officials cited something called “The Tuck Rule,” and called it an incomplete pass even though Brady was trying to protect the ball at the time and had no intention of throwing a pass when he was being sacked by Woodson.

“The Tuck Rule” was taken off the books soon after.

The Patriots went on to win when Adam Vinatieri kicked at 45-yard field goal in the snow with 27 seconds left in regulation to tie the score and added a 23-yard field goal in overtime for a 16-13 victory which sent the Patriots on the way to winning their first Super Bowl, 20-17, over the St. Louis Rams on Vinatieri’s 48-yard field goal.

Patriots fans claim “The Tuck Rule” was a makeup call for Hamilton’s penalty for the hit on Stabler, while Raider Nation will dispute that forever.

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