1. The Patriots beat the Raiders, 33-8, Sunday in a game that was somehow less suspenseful than the final 25-point deficit indicates. They led, 7-0, after the first quarter, 17-0 at halftime, and 30-0 after three. They held an opponent to 17 or fewer points for the fifth straight game. It was their sixth straight victory. Brandin Cooks had six catches for 149 yards and a touchdown. Tom Brady threw just seven incompletions while completing 30 passes for 339 yards and 3 touchdowns. It was your run-of-the-mill dismantling of an overmatched and undisciplined opponent.
2. It was, in other words, a quintessential November Patriots victory, the kind that has come to look familiar during the most rewarding years of the unfathomably successful Brady/Bill Belichick era.