Patriots rout Raiders 45-17 as No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza debuts

Three weeks ago the Raiders were 3-0 and the feel-good story of the AFC. They are 3-2 now, and the ledger from Sunday is ugly in every column: a 45-17 loss at Gillette Stadium that the team's own game recap described as a throttling. That is the right word.

New England did whatever it liked. Drake Maye threw for 374 yards and accounted for five touchdowns, four through the air and one on a 3-yard run, and the Patriots piled up 536 yards and 45 points, both season highs for them. Las Vegas chipped in eight penalties for 101 yards. None of this happened against a healthy opponent, either. New England went into the game without four cornerbacks.

The offense did not hold up its end. Kirk Cousins went 19 of 28 for 243 yards and a touchdown and was sacked three times, per CBS Sports, a thin day for a quarterback who arrived tied for the league lead with 11 touchdown passes. Ashton Jeanty, playing through the foot problem that had him questionable all week, carried 10 times for 27 yards, his third game this season under 3 yards a carry. Brock Bowers was the only Raider who looked the part, with eight catches for 110 yards and a score, and even he lost a fumble. Matt Gay missed a 49-yard field goal, his first miss of the year.

Then came the part people will remember. With 6:06 left and the result settled, Klint Kubiak sent in Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick, for his first NFL snaps. Mendoza went 6 of 8 for 48 yards and came up a yard short on a fourth-down scramble in the red zone. "It wasn't a great experience because of the overall outcome," he told KTNV. "Every rookie has it at some point."

Here's the opinion, and it's grounded in those numbers: the debut is the only thing Las Vegas booked as an asset on Sunday, and it cost far more than it's worth. Kubiak said afterward that "I don't think any of us played well enough to win today," which is honest and also incomplete. Giving up 536 yards to a team down four corners isn't an effort problem. Two weeks of this, and the 3-0 start is a rounding error.

Kubiak said Cousins is expected to start next Sunday when the Bills visit Allegiant Stadium. Watch Jeanty's foot on the first injury report of the week, and watch how firm "expected to start" stays if Buffalo does what New England just did.