This Week
The New England Patriots visit the Oakland Raiders at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, CA on Sunday at 4:15 p.m.
The Patriots are 4-2 on the road and 5-5 against the AFC. The Raiders are 1-5 at home and 3-7 against the AFC.
Here are the rosters for the Patriots and Raiders.
Here are the projected starting lineups for the game.
The Line/Prediction
As of today, the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports is Patriots -7. The over/under is 39.5.
Tickets
Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here.
Getting To The Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in the Oakland make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast for the game from weather.com.
Click for all the needed information for the stadium including directions, parking information, parking map and an Oakland Coliseum seating chart.
Tailgating
Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgaiting America. There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack. I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good and for good measure here is one of my own.
And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages. With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks. You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or by theme.
Whether it’s at the game, a bar or someone’s house moderation is always the key to a great time. Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver. Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
CBS is televising the game regionally and Kevin Harlan will do the play-by-play while Rich Gannon will handle the game analysis. You can see if you are getting the game and look for your local CBS Station.
Direct TV NFL Sunday Ticket has the game on Channel 715.
For those of you overseas here is some general information on NFL Broadcasts for the 2008 season.
Patriots All-Access airs Saturday at 7 p.m. on WCVB TV 5 in Boston. It will also be simulcast on the team website at the same time. Make sure you check out the Patriots Football Network for information on when you can see Patriots All-Access in your market.
Radio
The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color.
It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak and Andy Gresh and the pregame show at 1 p.m. along the network.
The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.
If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.
All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots Rock Radio Network call is available on Channel 125, the Raiders Radio Network has Greg Papa doing play-by-play and former Raiders coach Tom Flores with analysis. Their call is available on Channel 126.
Since the satellite merger XM Satellite Radio also carries all the NFL games and in most cases has just the radio call of the home team.
Last Week
The Patriots beat the Seahawks 24-21 on the road, while the Raiders lost to the Chargers in San Diego, 34-7.
History
- This is the 32nd meeting between the Patriots and the Raiders, the overall series is tied 15-15-1, including playoffs, and dates back to the first AFL season in 1960. The series was 8-8-1 in the AFL and is 7-7 since the merger.
- The series includes two memorable playoff games played 25 years a part. On December 18, 1976 the Raiders defeated the Patriots 24-21 on a phantom roughing the passer call on Ray Hamilton. On January 19, 2002 the Patriots got even when they beat the Raiders in the “Tuck Rule Game” 16-13 in OT enroute to their first Super Bowl title. It was the last game ever played at Foxboro Stadium.
- This is the first meeting since 2005 when the Patriots beat the Raiders 30-20 at Gillette Stadium.
- The Patriots last played in Oakland on November 17, 2002 when they lost to the Raiders, 27-20.
- This is just the fourth meeting between the two teams in the last 14 seasons. Prior to the AFC Division playoff game in January 2002 the two clubs hadn’t faced each other since 1994 when the Raiders were in Los Angeles.
Connections
- Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss spent two seasons with the Oakland Raiders prior to his 2007 Draft Day trade to New England.
- Raiders DB/PR Tyvon Branch (IR) is a rookie from UConn.
- Patriots running back LaMont Jordan played for the Oakland Raiders for three seasons before his release this summer.
- Raiders T James Marten and LB Ricky Brown played college football at Boston College.
- Patriots QB Matt Cassel is from Northridge CA and went to USC.
- Raiders G Cooper Carlisle and DT Gerard Warren went to Florida where they played with Patriots WR Jabar Gaffney.
- Patriots QB Tom Brady (IR) is from San Mateo CA and went to Junipero Serra High School where he and Barry Bonds are members of its Hall of Fame.
- Raiders QB JaMarcus Russell played at LSU with Patriots LB Eric Alexander.
- Patriots LB Tedy Bruschi is from Roseville CA.
- Raiders C John Wade was college teammates with Patriots WR Randy Moss and P Chris Hanson at Marshall.
- Patriots QB Matt Gutierrez is from Concord CA.
- Raiders DT William Joseph played at Miami with Patriots NT Vince Wilfork.
- Patriots LS Lonnie Paxton is from Corona CA and went to Sacramento State.
- Raiders WR Ronald Curry and DB Michael Waddell played college football with Patriots WR Sam Aiken at North Carolina.
- Patriots S James Sanders is from Porterville CA and G Logan Mankins is from Cathey’s Valley CA and both attended Fresno State with Raiders LB Sam Williams.
- Raiders S Gabril Wilson and DB Rashad Baker went to Tennessee with Patriots WR Kelley Washington.
- Patriots WR Matthew Slater is from Anaheim CA and went to UCLA.
- Raiders S Michael Huff and Patriots TE David Thomas went to Texas and were members of the 2005 National Championship team.
- Patriots CB Deltha O’Neal is from Milpitas CA and went to Cal where he played with Raiders CB Nnamdi Asomugha.
- Raiders P Shane Lechler was college teammates with Patriots CD Jason Webster and DE Ty Warren at Texas A&M.
- Patriots rookie QB Kevin O’Connell is from Carlsbad CA and graduated from San Diego State where he was teammates with Raiders rookie WR Chaz Schilens.
Other News
This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Raiders. You can also see what Oakland interim head coach Tom Cable had to say about the game.
Here is the injury list for the game.
PATRIOTS
Did Not Participate in Practice
LB Tedy Bruschi (left knee)
S James Sanders (abdomen)
OLB Pierre Woods (jaw)
Limited Participation in Practice
CB Ellis Hobbs (shoulder)
OLB Vince Redd (ankle)
OLB Mike Vrabel (neck)
DE Ty Warren (groin)
WR Kelley Washington (thigh)
NT Vince Wilfork (shoulder)
RAIDERS
Did Not Participate in Practice
LB Ricky Brown (groin)
Limited Participation in Practice
C Jake Grove (calf)
QB JaMarcus Russell (ankle)
News from the Patriots
Belichick is 4-1 in his career against the Raiders. He is 2-1 against them as the head coach in New England.
Overall in his NFL career Belichick is 134-86 in 14 NFL seasons. He is 15-4 in the playoffs and when you combine the regular season and postseason Belichick is 149-90.
Matt Cassel is 7-5 since he took over for the injured Tom Brady.
The Patriots overall franchise record is 374-354-9. They have won three Super Bowls (XXXVI, XXXIII, XXXIX) in 6 appearances.
Points scored
23.1 per game
NFL rank: 18th
Last week:18th
Points allowed
21.2 per game
NFL rank: tied-14th
Last week: 12th
Turnover differential
Minus-2 (18 take-aways, 20 give-aways)
NFL rank: tied-19th
Last week: tied-21st
Third-down offense
42.6 percent, 78 of 183
NFL rank: 10th
Last week: 13th
Third-down defense
45.7 percent, 74 of 162
NFL rank: 30th
Last week: 29th
Red-zone offense (based on TD percentage)
25 of 50, 50 percent
NFL rank: 22nd
Last week: 21st
Red-zone defense (based on TD percentage)
28 of 42, 66.7 percent
NFL rank: 31st
Last week: 30th
The Patriots are 2-1 this season against the AFC West and are 10-9 against the division since 2000.
Since 2001 the Patriots are 67-17 in games played on November 1st or later.
2008 Patriots schedule/results
News from this weeks opponent:
Tom Cable is 1-8 since taking over the Raiders as interim head coach after Lane KIffin was let go after four games (1-3) in his second season with Oakland. Cable has no previous NFL head coaching experience.
JaMarcus Russell is 3-10 as a NFL starter. He has never faced New England.
Oakland’s overall franchise record is 403-325-11. The Oakland Raiders came into the AFL as an expansion team in 1960 and was part of the AFL-NFL merger. They moved to Los Angeles in 1982 and played there through the 1994 when they moved back to Oakland for the 1995 season. They have won three Super Bowls (XI, XV, XVIII) in five appearances.
Oakland has a 25-18 playoff record having last made the post season in 2002 when they defeated the New York Jets in the Division Game 30-10, defeated the Tennessee Titans 41-24 in the AFC Champsionship game and lost 48-21 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII.
They had 1 pick in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft and they took RB Darren McFadden (Arkansas – 4th overall). They selected 5 players overall in the seven rounds of the draft including UConn CB Tyvon Branch in the 4th round. Branch is on the IR and done for the season with a shoulder injury.
Oakland has more players from Washington and Florida State (3) than any other school.
Oakland only had one Pro Bowl player last year, P Shane Lechler.
Next Week
The New England Patriots host the Arizona Cardinals in their home finale at Gillette Stadium at 1 p.m.
Editors note: Steve did most of the prep work for the making of this post before he left.
