Moss has moment, but it doesn't last

FOXBOROUGH -- Why didn't Kerry Collins heave it up to Randy Moss on virtually every play last night? Because he couldn't, that's why.

Moss had his big moment with 9:04 remaining in the second quarter of New England's 30-20 win, when Oakland's star receiver beat Tyrone Poole in coverage, made an acrobatic catch, and avoided Rodney Harrison before cruising into the end zone. But after that 73-yard hookup, the Patriots made adjustments and Moss never really had much of a chance to make another play. The Patriots switched from the injured Poole to Chad Scott, who covered Moss well one-on-one. Couple that with the fact that quarterback Collins was running for his life most of the second half, and it was a recipe for disaster for the Raiders.

Moss, who had five catches for 130 yards, proved on his long touchdown that there's really no way to completely take him out of a game, but the Patriots simply made it miserable for Collins, who was facing major pressure from the New England front seven.

''There was pressure, no doubt," said Collins. ''The guys up front had their hands full and they did the best they could. The Patriots have an awesome defense. What hurt was all the penalties we had. You can't have those kinds of penalties or turnovers against a team like that. But hopefully, we can learn from our mistakes and straighten things out next week."

Collins, who completed just 18 of 40 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns, said Moss's big play was a thing of beauty. Unfortunately there weren't enough of them.

''It was awesome," said Collins, whose team was penalized 16 times for 149 yards. ''Any time we have one-on-one matchups we're going to try to take advantage of it. Randy did an unbelievable job concentrating on the play. To see it up in the air and him staying with it is unbelievable. He's a great athlete. What we have to do is be able to take advantage of situations when Randy isn't that open. We have to be able to get the ball someplace else."

Moss said he has all the respect in the world for the Patriots.

''They doubled and triple-teamed me," he said. ''They covered me well. They have great schemes. They really play great defense out there. It's hard to break anything against them so when you have a chance to make a big play like that, it's a big thing. I mean Kerry called that play in the huddle and he read their defense very well on that. But my hat is off to the Patriots."

Raiders coach Norv Turner thought Moss played with intensity throughout the game, which is something he may not have always done during his tenure with the Minnesota Vikings.

''I thought we had very good intensity in the first half, but I don't think our intensity was nearly as much as it was in the second half," Moss said. ''It came down to who wanted it more and to be honest it was [the Patriots]. The one thing we have to do is forget about this one and move on with the rest of the season. I think we're going to be all right if we take care of our own business and stay away from bad plays."

Lamont Jordan, the other big addition to the Raiders offense, managed 70 yards on 18 carries. He was also displeased with the number of penalties called on the Silver and Black.

''In New York, we were one of the least penalized teams in the league," Jordan said of his time with the Jets. ''The one thing I learned from playing over there is when you play the New England Patriots, you'd better not make mistakes and if you have a chance to take advantage of a small opening you'd better do it. Everybody said the Patriots would lose something when they lost [coordinators Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel], but I'm telling you they're the same team. Nothing's changed."

Count Turner among those who was sick of seeing all the yellow flags dotting the Gillette Stadium turf.

''We have to go back and look at each one and coach them up," said Turner. ''We can't commit that many penalties against any team in the NFL."

Warren Sapp said the turning point for the Raiders was the huge turnover when Vince Wilfork intercepted Collins at the Oakland 20 with 5:58 remaining in the third quarter. The Patriots scored three plays later.

''That made it 23-14 and it could have been 23-20 or whatever and it would have been a close ballgame," Sapp said. ''It's little things like that that we could have done to change the course of the game. But it got away from us. We made mistakes and those are things we have to correct."

Former Patriot Bobby Hamilton said there was nothing the Patriots threw at them they didn't expect.

''They just executed well," Hamilton said. ''They're a great team. Not much has changed."