The Key to the Raiders' Second Half Surge

Raiders' Strong Second Half

The Raiders played a solid game overall, battling through several challenging moments on both sides of the ball early against the New England Patriots. Las Vegas' offense went three-and-out three consecutive times after a first-half interception and missed a field goal right before halftime.

Still, the Raiders' defense held its own, only allowing six total points after the first quarter. Las Vegas' defense held the Patriots scoreless in the third quarter and nearly the fourth quarter as well, before giving up a field goal with under three minutes left to go in the game.

Following the Raiders' win over the Patriots, Pete Carroll analyzed the defense's performance in the second half.

"Well, I think we picked up from the first half because we played solid the whole game, but we played better, and I thought Pat [Graham] really adjusted well to what was going on in the game. If you notice, they threw the ball quite a bit, and he adjusted quickly and put us in good positions for rushing in, for covering, and changing up and disguising and things like that. That really worked out for us,” Carroll said.

“It was a really good surge. You could feel the surge on defense. It kind of changed the complexion of the game. But we responded really well. What that showed, again, to me, is that the guys were really comfortable playing in a tight game. At halftime, they weren't flustered about whatever, the score or nothing. They were tuned in and very determined to finish well, and that's what it felt like we did."

Carroll praised the defense for standing tall even after losing Elandon Roberts, who missed most of the game after suffering an elbow injury. Tommy Eichenberg and Jamal Adams were vital on Sunday.

“Tommy [Eichenberg] was the one that had to answer the call because he came in. Jamal [Adams] was in and out of the game anyway as we were rotating him through. I thought Tommy did a really good job of jumping out there, communicating, doing right, picking up, and not letting that be a factor,” Carroll said. 

“Jamal played a nice game, too. He was active and moving around. But I really credit Tommy with coming off the bench. It's hard to do that and play as actively as he did. So it was really, really good."