New England Patriots and Oakland Raiders have a long, fun history

November 26, 1989: Raiders 24, Patriots 21

The New England Patriots were just 4-7 heading into this game with the Los Angeles Raiders. Luckily, the Raiders were just 5-6 themselves. LA opened the scoring in the first quarter with a Steve Beuerlein pass to Mike Alexander. New England didn’t get on the board until midway through the second quarter on a Steve Grogan TD pass. Grogan then gave the Patriots the lead on a 49-yarder to Irving Fryar.

Beuerlein tossed another touchdown in the second quarter and the game was tied at 14 at halftime. Los Angeles scored early in the second half, but Grogan threw his third touchdown pass of the game to tie things up at 21. Both defenses fought hard for the rest of the half though, and the only score was a Raiders field goal in the fourth. New England, unfortunately, lost this heartbreaker, in part due to Steve Grogan’s 3 interceptions. The Patriots won just 5 games in the 1989 season and failed to make the playoffs.