Perry: Reasons behind the blocked punt seem fitting for this Patriots team

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LAS VEGAS -- While the play at the end of the game is the one that many will be discussing after the Patriots loss to the Raiders, there was another New England miscue at the end of the half that led to a game-changing score.

With 36 seconds remaining, the Patriots had a punt blocked that eventually led to a Derek Carr touchdown pass to Mac Hollins. That put the Patriots down two touchdowns, 17-3, going into halftime.

How did it happen? Confusion with the play-clock, Patriots players said afterward.

Patriots-Raiders takeaways: A fitting ending to an ugly Pats loss

There was an expectation that the play-clock would've been "bumped" -- or, in other words, reset -- by officials as the Patriots waited to punt the ball. That would've allowed them more time to bleed off the clock before kicking the ball back to Las Vegas.

The reset came eventually, players said. But it came later than anticipated.

Jabrill Peppers, situated in the middle of the field,Ā can be seen on the broadcast copy of the game pointing to the clock after the late reset and seemingly telling players they have more time to burn. Joe Cardona, Patriots long-snapper, did not see that the clock had been reset.

Believing time was running out, and not wanting to get a delay-of-game penalty, Cardona snapped the ball. But Peppers and others weren't ready, leading to unblocked rushers descendingĀ on punter Michael Palardy.

"We had a little bit of miscommunication with the clock," Matthew Slater said. "The clock was winding down. In that situation we want to bleed the clock. Then they bumped the clock. That's unfortunate the way that that happened. You wish they would've bumped the clock sooner. But Joe's thinking, 'I gotta go.' The communicationĀ was a little bit delayed because of the tardiness of the bumping of the clock. Sucks."

Slater added: "I heard Bill (Belichick) and (special teams coordinator) Cam (Achord) yelling, 'Bump it!' They bumped it. Obviously, in that situation, we want to let the clock bleed out, but I just think it's just unfortunate. That's nobody's fault. That's miscommunication at the wrong time between the refs and our coaches. It is what it is.

"The play clock was already down to, like, four (seconds). Our guys are thinking, 'We gotta go.' And they bumped it late. Half our guys were assuming the clock was getting bumped, and we were going to let it keep bleeding, including myself. And then obviously Joe is doing his job, doing what he's supposed to because the clock is down."

Peppers said he and the official over the ball had a brief conversation in the moment, while the Raiders were being allowed to substitute, and he was led to believe the play-clock would be reset.

"The ref was over the ball," Peppers said. "I told the ref, 'The clock is still running.' He said, 'All right. I know. I know. Relax.'Ā 

"When he was backing out he [raised his hands over his head], which means the clock is supposed to reset. But I guess Joe probably had his head down or something. That's still on me. I still gotta be ready, but we were supposed to get a fresh clock, once the ref stopped. When he was walking out, the clock had reset, I was about to get back in my stance, and the ball was snapped."

Peppers added: "[The official] was over the ball because we were making substitutions. You gotta give the defense a chance to sub. But as he was standing over the ball, the play-clock was still running. I don't know if the TV copy caught it, but you can maybe see me saying, 'The play-clock is still going. We need a fresh play-clock.' That's just unfortunate."

When asked about the play after the game, Belichick said, "It's another mistake on the play."

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