It wasn't so much that the Raiders were overmatched against the Patriots on Sunday in Mexico City. That happens to a lot of teams; the Patriots are back to being the Patriots, and as opposed to last season before Derek Carr got hurt, the Patriots clearly are the better team this year.

No, the problem was that the Raiders were unprepared. That's inexcusable.

The Patriots are better, but they're not "take a 30-0 third-quarter lead" better, or “win 33-8" better, or "Brian Hoyer in garbage time" better.

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Right now, the Raiders don't seem terribly prepared to grab the opportunity being handed to them. The AFC West keeps sliding back toward them, yet the Raiders keep sliding back away from the lead. At 4-6, they're closer to the bottom (the 3-7 Broncos) than the top (the 6-4 Chiefs, losers of four out of five). And the Chargers have the tiebreaker on them — and by Thanksgiving night, they might also have more wins, too.

Yes, beating the Patriots would have been a lot to ask. But the Giants beating the Chiefs and turning up the AFC West Chaos-Meter was even more to ask. Nothing is surprising about any team this season. Except that the Raiders' foggy performance was a disturbing surprise.

It all calls the faces of the franchise, the guys in control — Reggie McKenzie, Jack Del Rio, Derek Carr — into question. Probably owner Mark Davis, too, although he was preoccupied with posing with shovels in another city. More on that later.

The Patriots looked ready to play Sunday, and they had the receipts with their week at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, getting acclimated to the altitude and, by all accounts, doing some midseason team-bonding that usually isn't possible.

The Raiders looked like they had other things on their minds, during the game but also leading up to it. They had a rare advantage of having played in the city and stadium last year, and they played well in beating the Texans in that game. They also were coming off a bye and could not have been more clear about the importance of the game, regardless of location and opponent.

The altitude may or may not have been a factor for the Raiders; they followed the same routine last season. And they might not have been distracted Monday by the groundbreaking for their new stadium in Las Vegas, since it was only team brass (like the aforementioned Davis) and legends showing up for that.

Whatever was going on with the Raiders on Sunday, their concentration and poise were elsewhere. So was their sense of urgency.

Tom Brady makes it look easy, but it’s easier when teams make it easier on him. He started the game 12-for-12 passing, including completions on all nine attempts during a surgical opening touchdown drive. The Patriots' defense has gotten its act together in recent weeks, even while adjusting for Dont'a Hightower's absence.

But waves of dropped passes, an excessively boneheaded fumble inside the 5-yard line and a foolish half-slap at a defenders’ head after an incompletion make any defense look impenetrable.

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Few teams, if any, have underachieved this season like the Raiders have. They've been explosive in their two wins since their four-game losing streak ended, and the way they beat the Chiefs on an electric Thursday night was reason to be optimistic that they've gotten back to the level they were on last year.

They haven't even been able to win back-to-back games since. And, to repeat, this looked like more than just a loss to a smoking-hot, laser-focused perennial contender. It was the third time they've looked simply overwhelmed (as they did in Washington and Buffalo).

Contrary to much of what is going on around the NFL this season, the Raiders actually are better than this. They’re running out of time to play like it.