LET the games begin
PATRIOTS 30, RAIDERS 20
Defending turf
Patriots take Raiders' best shot and prevail
By Jerome Solomon, Globe Staff | September 9, 2005
FOXBOROUGH -- The New England Patriots claim they are not out to make history, just first downs.
They maintain they focus more on getting their clutches on opposing quarterbacks than on another Lombardi Trophy.
They even say reaching a goal no other National Football League team has achieved -- a third consecutive Super Bowl championship -- is secondary to reaching the goal line.
Whether they admit it or not, the lofty, albeit unspoken, aspirations are going to make the first downs, tackles, and touchdowns more difficult.
The Oakland Raiders demonstrated as much last night, but the two-time defending Super Bowl champions displayed their standard resilience, toppling the feisty visitors, 30-20, in the 2005 season opener.
The Patriots recorded their 21st straight victory at Gillette Stadium, a streak that extends to late in the 2002 season, and it marked the 100th career win for coach Bill Belichick.
In many ways it came in a fashion similar to so many wondrous wins the previous four seasons -- efficient, opportunistic offense, and dominant defense when it mattered. But it also came with some distinct differences from how the Patriots rolled to the championship last year. Namely, a blocked extra point and punt, and the defense giving up the longest play it has allowed in more than five years.
About all that did was keep the boisterous sellout crowd from having a game-long celebration on the night the team's championship banner from Super Bowl XXXIX was unveiled.
''It was a nice way to start out the season, with a victory," Belichick said. ''We kind of stumbled around on a few things tonight that are going to catch up with us if we don't get 'em fixed."
The Patriots found one fix in this one, junking their 3-4 defensive set for a time to go with a 4-3 alignment, with Jarvis Green joining Richard Seymour, Ty Warren, and Vince Wilfork up front. The resulting pressure on Raiders quarterback Kerry Collins served to keep him from getting the ball to wideout Randy Moss, who burned the Patriots twice for long gains in the first half and finished with five receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown.
The Patriots' defense was particularly stout in the third quarter, when it held the Raiders to 34 yards. Oakland had five possessions in the period, but was 0 for 4 on third downs, and turned the ball over with an interception.
''We knew we had to pressure the quarterback -- knock him off a spot," Wilfork said, who came down with the interception at a key point.
Leading, 17-14, New England took over the field position battle early in the third quarter by downing a pair of Josh Miller punts at the Oakland 4.