It’s only Week 5, but the game between the Las Vegas Raiders and New England Patriots has a lot of early postseason implications on the line. The 3-1 Raiders are coming off a significant loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and head into Sunday as the sixth seed or second Wild Card in the AFC Playoff standings. Meanwhile, the 2-2 Patriots are coming off a huge win over the Buffalo Bills to hold the seventh seed or third Wild Card spot.
For the second week in a row, the stakes are high for Las Vegas, adding
importance to the three key matchups below.
Raiders’ Pass Rush vs. Maye
A year ago, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye finished second in MVP voting and earned a second-team All-Pro bid while leading the NFL in completion percentage (72.0%) and tossing 4,394 yards with 31 touchdowns and eight interceptions. However, it’s been a different story in 2026 so far, as he’s completing just 62.4% of his passes for 854 yards and four touchdowns with seven interceptions (most in the NFL).
A big reason for the statistical regression is that the third-year QB has been under pressure more frequently — 37.9% to 44.3%, according to Pro Football Focus — and is handling it worse than last season. PFF gave Maye a 65.2 grade under pressure during the 2025 regular season due to recording a 6.7% “big time throw” rate with just a 3.2% “turnover worthy play” rate. However, the same numbers sit at 36.2, 4.3% and 8.7%, respectively, over the last four weeks.
So, it’s going to be important for the Raiders’ defensive line to get after the quarterback, starting with Maxx Crosby.
With 25 pressures in four games, Crosby is on pace to log a career-high 106 pressures and post triple digits for just the second time in his career (101 in 2021). He’s also tied for fourth among edge rushers in the metric and ranks ninth with a 19.8% pass-rush win rate, his best percentage since 2021.
Of course, Las Vegas will need other players to step up and support its top pass-rusher. The good news is the Silver and Black rank 12th in the NFL with a 37.9% pressure rate as a team while blitzing just 21.9% of the time (eighth-lowest) per Next Gen Stats. That’s a nod to defensive coordinator Rob Leonard, who has found creative ways to get pressure with just four rushers.
Additionally, Malcolm Koonce is somewhat quietly having a good season. He has half as many pressures (12) as Crosby but has also rushed the passer 57 fewer times (136 to 79) and has a nearly identical win rate (18.9%), per PFF. The latter puts Koonce as the 11th-most successful edge rusher across the league (minimum 37 pass rushes).
Circling back to Maye, he is coming off his best game of the season with 269 yards and three touchdowns to one interception against the Bills. A big reason for that is he handled pressure much better. Buffalo got to him on 47.6% of his dropbacks, but the 2025 MVP candidate had two “big-time throws” on 15 attempts (13.3%) under pressure and just one “turnover-worthy play” (4.5%), per PFF.
So, Sunday will be a true test to see if Maye has turned the corner, as Crosby, Koonce and Leonard await.
Mayer vs. Robert Spillane
While Brock Bowers is the primary focus of the Raiders’ offense and typically draws opponents’ top cornerback, especially when a corner of Christian Gonzalez’s caliber is on the other sideline, Gonzalez didn’t play last week with a shoulder injury. His status for this Sunday is unknown at the time of writing, taking the air out of that one-on-one battle.
Assuming Gonzalez isn’t available again, New England will likely turn to a committee approach when it comes to slowing down Bowers. To the Pats’ credit, they’ve been very stingy against tight ends so far this season, giving up just 104 yards over four games and have yet to yield a touchdown to the position, per StatMuse. The Bills’ duo (Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid) combined for just three catches and 20 yards last week.
To be fair, Knox hasn’t been very productive this season. However, Kincaid came into the game leading all tight ends with 263 receiving yards, and was held to just one catch for seven yards against the Patriots. Former Raider linebacker Robert Spillane is part of the reason for New England’s success against tight ends, allowing just one catch for five yards to the position on the campaign, per PFF.
Spillane isn’t the most dynamic athlete in space to prevent many completions, as he is yielding an 84.6% completion percentage (mostly against running backs and wide receivers) and hasn’t forced an incompletion yet this season. But he is good at rallying and tackling to make stops in coverage, recording five in four weeks without logging a missed tackle. That makes the linebacker good at limiting yards against checkdowns, which is where Raiders tight end Michael Mayer does most of his damage.
All 20 of Mayer’s catches and his 167 yards this season have come either behind the line of scrimmage or in the zero-to-nine-yard range, per PFF. Additionally, his 91 yards after the catch are the 10th-most among tight ends, and his 12 first-down receptions are tied for third, proving to be a valuable safety net for quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Additionally, the fourth-year pro is coming off one of the best games of his career with eight catches for 82 yards and five first downs. So, New England can’t spend too much of its attention on stopping Bowers because Las Vegas’ other tight end can hurt its defense on underneath routes.
On top of all that, Spillane is traditionally known for what he brings as a run defender. He’s currently tied for 15th among linebackers in defensive stops (eight) and has a 2.8-yard average depth of tackle against the run, according to PFF. Meanwhile, Mayer is 17th at his position with a 66.1 PFF run-blocking grade.
That sets up for a very intriguing battle in both phases of the game.
Raiders’ OTs vs. Patriots EDGEs
New England has been without its top two sack leaders from last year’s Super Bowl run — Harold Landry III (8.5) and K’Lavon Chaisson (7.5) — to begin the current campaign. Chaisson signed with the Washington Commanders in free agency, while Landry has been on the PUP list and doesn’t have a timeline to return. However, the defense is still getting good production from its edge rushers.
Dre’Mont Jones was brought in during the offseason and has 12 pressures on 64 pass-rush reps in three games, per PFF (he missed the Week 3 bout with a shoulder injury). That’s incredibly efficient, and Jones’ 23.3% pass-rush win rate is second-best among edge-rushers. Meanwhile, the Patriots also have a pair of young edges who have stood out.
Second-year pro Elijah Ponder leads the team with 2.5 sacks and has 13 pressures on 101 pass rushes in four games, and rookie second-round pick Gabe Jacas is second with 1.5 sacks and has 10 pressures on 88 rushes over the last month. Additionally, Jacas has been more efficient every week, highlighted by registering three pressures on just 14 opportunities in Buffalo.
All three defenders will spend a good amount of snaps on both sides of the offensive line, adding extra importance to both Kolton Miller’s and DJ Glaze’s performances on Sunday.
Miller is coming off a rough outing where he allowed six pressures to the Kansas City Chiefs and struggled to handle George Karlaftis’ ability to win with power. However, there’s reason to believe the nine-year veteran can bounce back quickly since he’s built a reputation as a quality blind-side protector and yielded just five pressures in the three weeks prior to the Chiefs game.
Meanwhile, Glaze might be the most improved offensive tackle in the NFL so far this season. He went from giving up the second-most pressures (48) at the position in 2025 to the 10th-fewest (four, minimum 49 pass-blocking snaps) during the first month of the 2026 campaign.
That sets the stage for a noteworthy battle on the edges of the trenches.
