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

November 17, 2002: Raiders 27, Patriots 20

The season after the ‘Tuck Rule Game’, the Oakland Raiders got their revenge. Now, it may not really be revenge to win a regular season game instead of a playoff game, but Oakland fans were really proud of this one.

Adam Vinatieri and Sebastian Janikowski swapped first-quarter field goals and it was a 3-3 game heading into the second quarter. Oakland owned that quarter. Zack Crockett punched a score in on the goal line, as did Rich Gannon right before the half. In between those two scores, Vinatieri added another 3 points, and it was 17-6 Oakland at the break.

In the third quarter, Crockett scored once again, and the Raiders had built up a 24-6 commanding lead. New England’s offense could not get anything done all day long. Thankfully, the Patriots defense came up big as linebacker Tedy Bruschi intercepted Gannon and returned the ball 48-yards for a score.

Janikowski added a field goal late in the fourth quarter, and Oakland lead 27-13 with just over 1 minute to play. Kevin Faulk returned the ensuing kickoff 86-yards for a touchdown, but it wasn’t enough. The Raiders took down the Patriots 27-20 as Tom Brady was to 172-yards passing and no touchdowns.