National Football League

Campbell has key INT, Raiders lose 31-19 to Pats

Published Oct. 3, 2011 2:14 a.m. ET

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Jason Campbell looked left, then right, stepped up, pulled back and finally chose to loft a perfect strike to a wide-open Patrick Chung waiting in the back of the end zone.

The only problem is Chung plays for the Patriots.

Campbell's perplexing pass for one of his two interceptions shifted the momentum at a critical point, and the Oakland Raiders went on to lose 31-19 to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on Sunday.

''One mistake like that kind of throws you out of it,'' Campbell said.

Campbell threw another interception early in the fourth quarter to 325-pound defensive lineman Vince Wilfork, deflating a sellout crowd at the Coliseum that came to cheer from the opening kickoff. He finished 25 for 39 for 344 yards, but the penalty-riddled Raiders (2-2) made it into the end zone only once before Campbell's 6-yard TD pass to Denarius Moore with 28 seconds left.

''We have to play better on defense. We have to do better on offense. We have to play better on special teams, and I got to get this penalty thing solved,'' Raiders coach Hue Jackson said. ''There ain't no magic to it or anything. It's just called work. We're going to go back to work. We got beat by a team and an organization that's a little bit better than us at this point.''

Clearly.

Brady returned from a four-interception performance by throwing for 226 yards and two touchdowns and committing no turnovers. Wes Welker caught nine passes for 158 yards and a score, BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Stevan Ridley added touchdowns rushing, and the Patriots (3-1) played a mostly mistake-free game after last week's surprising loss in Buffalo.

Oakland committed nine penalties for 85 yards, including a pair of personal fouls on New England's opening drive by former Patriots star Richard Seymour.

But the biggest mistake was the one made by Campbell at the end of the first half.

The Raiders were at the New England 6 and in position to take a 17-14 lead when Campbell stepped up in the pocket and threw the ball directly to Chung.

''It was just a bonehead play,'' Campbell said. ''I was just going to throw the ball out of bounds, then I start running around trying to make a play. It's just one of those I have to throw it out of bounds. ... I kind of lost control of it a little bit as I was throwing it.''

The Patriots drove for a 44-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski in the closing seconds of the half.

''I'm not happy it happened at all,'' Campbell said. ''I'll probably beat myself up more than anybody would.''

New England then took the opening kickoff of the second half down the field for a score on Ridley's 33-yard run, so the Raiders trailed 24-10 by the time Campbell had his next snap.

Oakland settled for a field goal deep in New England territory late in the third quarter after the officials overturned a pass interference call against the Patriots.

New England answered with another touchdown drive capped by Brady's 4-yard pass to Deion Branch, which made it 31-13 and gave him 275 career TDs, tying Vinny Testaverde for eighth place all-time. Brady also equaled Peyton Manning's record of 13 straight games with at least two TD passes.

Darren McFadden, the NFL's leading rusher, had 75 yards on 14 carries.

Brady, who threw for a record 1,327 yards the first three games, needed to do much less against the Raiders. He completed 16 of 30 passes as New England did plenty of damage on the ground with Ridley rushing for 97 yards and Green-Ellis adding 75.

Buoyed by a sellout crowd and big-game atmosphere, the Raiders came out fast, with Campbell completing four of five passes for 57 yards in the opening drive to set up a 28-yard field goal by Sebatsian Janikowski.

But that emotion also hurt the Raiders, with Seymour being called for unnecessary roughness for throwing Brady to the ground after a delay of game penalty and a facemask later on a TD drive.

''They said they blew the whistle,'' Seymour said. ''But it was so loud I never heard the whistle. That's still no excuses. We have to play better.''

Notes: The Raiders held a moment of silence before the game for Myra Kraft, the late wife of New England owner Robert Kraft. ... The Patriots scored at least 30 points for the 12th straight game. ... Oakland had 19 points on six trips inside the New England 30.

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Antonio Gonzalez can be reached at: www.twitter.com/agonzalezAP

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