The Sports Xchange
Nov 19, 2017
Tom Brady threw for 339 yards and three touchdowns and Stephen Gostkowski kicked four field goals, including a franchise-record 62-yarder, powering the New England Patriots to their sixth straight win with a 33-8 blowout of the Oakland Raiders in Mexico City on Sunday.
Brady, 30 of 37 through the air, notched his sixth 300-yard game of the season -- he had five in his 12 games in 2016 -- and 82nd of his career.
His coach, Bill Belichick, broke a tie with Tom Landry and moved into sole possession of third place on the NFL's all-time coaching wins list.
The Patriots have won a team-record 13 straight road games, 12 of them quarterbacked by Brady, the second-longest QB streak in NFL history.
Sunday's contest was considered a home game for Oakland.
Brady, who went 9 of 9 with a touchdown on the first New England drive, threw touchdown passes of 15, 5 and 64 yards to Dion Lewis, Danny Amendola and Brandin Cooks, respectively. Amendola, who had to leave the game briefly in the second half because of dehydration, caught eight passes for 66 yards while Cooks had six receptions for 149 yards.
Brady also cleared the 3,000-yard season mark for the 15th time, third all-time in the league.
New England has held all six opponents to 17 points or less during their winning streak.
The Patriots (8-2) led 30-0 when Derek Carr hit Amari Cooper with a 9-yard touchdown pass and then connected with Michael Crabtree on a 2-point conversion for the only scoring by the Raiders (4-6).
Gostkowski, kicking in high altitude, also hit on field goals of 51, 40 and 29 yards. He is the only Patriots kicker with two 50-plus-yard field goals in the same game, and he has done it three times.
The 62-yarder ended the first half, marking the seventh straight game New England has scored in the last two minutes of the first half. For the year, the Patriots have outscored their opposition 27-0 in the last two minutes of the first half in their 10 games.
Carr, limping by game's end, was 28 of 49 for 237 yards, the touchdown and one interception -- Oakland receivers dropping several passes on the day.
Marshawn Lynch ran for 67 yards on 11 carries, including 25-yarder that was his longest with his new team. Lewis led the Patriots on the ground with 60 yards on 10 carries.
The Patriots, who won last week in Denver, remained in high altitude in Colorado Springs all week, while the Raiders elected to fly into the 7,200 feet above sea level altitude.
NOTES: Oakland CB David Amerson and T Marshall Newhouse (hip/quad) were inactive because of a foot injury. ... New England WR Chris Hogan (shoulder), T Marcus Cannon (ankle), C David Andrews (illness), special teams captain Matthew Slater (hamstring), CB Eric Rowe (groin) and DT Malcolm Brown (ankle) were out and RB Mike Gillislee was inactive for the second straight week. ... A moment of silence was held before the game for the 468 lives lost in recent Mexican earthquakes. ... The Raiders host the Denver Broncos and the Patriots face the Miami Dolphins next Sunday. New England has six games remaining, including two each against AFC East opponents Miami and Buffalo.