Sunday at Gillette Stadium will carry a little extra weight for the Patriots. New England is set to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its first Super Bowl-winning team, and it will also honor recent Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Adam Vinatieri.
The timing fits. The Raiders are coming to town, and they’re one of the franchises New England beat on the road to that title.
This matchup has been around since the old AFL days, and the numbers show just how close it has been. The Patriots and Raiders have met 36 times in the regular season since 1960, with New England holding a slim 18-17-1 edge.
The postseason has tilted the same way, with the Patriots up 2-1. Their first playoff clash came in 1976, when then-Oakland won 24-21 in the divisional round.
New England answered in 1985 with a 27-20 win in Los Angeles, then later pulled out a 16-13 overtime divisional victory in Foxborough on the way to Super Bowl XXXVI.
The very first meeting between the teams came nearly 66 years ago, on October 16, 1960, at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. It was a turnover-heavy mess.
The Patriots gave it away seven times, including three Butch Songin interceptions, while the Raiders also coughed it up five times. Three of those picks landed in Gino Cappelletti’s hands.
Even that wasn’t enough for New England to swing the game. Oakland jumped ahead 21-6 by halftime and stayed in control from there, winning 27-14.
If there’s one game that still defines this series for Patriots fans, it’s the 2001 divisional matchup. That one gave Vinatieri his signature moment.
New England trailed 13-3 heading into the fourth quarter, then clawed back with a Tom Brady touchdown run and Vinatieri’s 45-yard field goal in a snowstorm. That kick came after the famous Tuck Rule overturned what looked like a Brady fumble.
In overtime, the Patriots got the ball first and drove 61 yards in 15 plays before setting up the winning 23-yard field goal. Brady finished the series 8-for-8 for 45 yards, and Vinatieri’s last kick became the final play at old Foxboro Stadium.
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Patriots insider Tom E. Curran has been part of that conversation, weighing Chisms style and how it might fit if the team needs another dependable option inside. Chism has already invited the easy comparisons, too, with some seeing shades of Julian Edelman and noting his friendly relationship with the former Patriots star. The bigger question now is whether what Chism has flashed can keep translating once the workload and the expectations both start to rise. [Read more 🡒]
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Drake Maye Faces A Bigger Test As Patriots Hope Momentum Is Real
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The next chance to answer that comes against a Raiders defense preparing with full respect for what Maye can do. If he keeps building on the signs he showed last week, New England could start turning recent momentum into a genuine winning streak, which is exactly the sort of development this team has been waiting to see from its quarterback. [Read more 🡒]