The New England Patriots are rolling.
New England has won five straight games and comes into its Week 11 matchup with the Oakland Raiders as the clear-cut favorite in the AFC.
The Raiders, on the other hand, came into the season as one of the trendy picks to challenge the Patriots in the AFC, but after a 4-5 start, Oakland is looking at an uphill battle to get to the playoffs.
Steve Young, however, believes there’s one way the Raiders can beat the Patriots on Sunday in Mexico City, and the ESPN analyst broke it down Thursday on “NFL Live.”
“For almost 20 years I’ve been asked the question, ‘How do you slow down the Patriot offense?'” Young said. “It is one way, and one way only. And you have to knock down Tom Brady, and if they get to him that ball is coming out faster than ever. Because Tom knows, ‘If I’m going to play until I’m 45, the only way I’m going to get there is this ball is going to come out and you’re not going to knock me around.’
“And so they (Raiders) have to grip-and-rip every receiver, slow down everyone’s routes, taking timing away, make Tom pat the ball and then start to take him down. Because you’ve seen it for almost 20 years, when Tom gets knocked around, things get tough.”
The Patriots will face yet another dominant pass rusher this week in Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack, so Oakland certainly will have a chance to rattle Brady like no team has in the past five games.
But if they don’t get to Brady, it’s curtains for the Raiders.
