Kickoff: The Patriots will take on the Las Vegas Raiders tonight in the preseason finale. The two teams are meeting for the first time since the Raiders moved to Las Vegas. It is also the first time the Patriots are playing the Raiders in a preseason game since 1995. The Patriots and Raiders have played 12 times in the preseason. The Raiders lead the preseason series between the two teams with a 6-5-1 preseason record.

1st Down: Will we see much of the starters? Probably not. There is a good chance many of the starters don’t play at all. The only reason Bill Belichick would play the starters to start is to give them some snaps before the opener which two weeks away. Even then, I doubt it is anything more than a quarter.

2nd Down: Heavy workload for Hoyer and Zappe: I would suspect we will some of Brian Hoyer and a lot of Bailey Zappe once again. Getting the young quarterback game reps is important so expect to see him play at least a half maybe even three quarters tonight.

3rd Down: Need to see improvement after joint practices: The Patriots really struggled at times in this week’s joint practices, especially on Tuesday. We need to see more out of them tonight than we did during the week. Regardless of who is out there, more fight and a better effort would be welcomed.

4th Down: Final audition: Tonight represents the final opportunity for guys on the bottom third of the roster to prove they deserve a roster spot. Rosters need to be cut from 80 to 53 by 4 pm on Tuesday. For guys like Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Brenden Schooler who are on the fringe, tonight is a big night. They must make every snap count!

Extra Point:This will be the first preseason match up between the two teams since the preseason finale on August 25th 1995. It has been a long time since we saw the Raiders this time of year.

Final Drive: It is simple for the Patriots. Evaluate your players, stay healthy and get out of dodge with a win if possible. This tape will be heavily scrutinized by the coaching staff so the guys who need to make a favorable impression better put something good on film. Tonight is a make or break night for a lot of guys. Their career is on the line.