The Josh McDaniels departure for Las Vegas hasn’t worked out to well for anyone, has it?

The Raiders are a mess, not able to close out games with a defense that falls asleep in the final five minutes of game, and their expected prolific offense hasn’t produced despite the off-season acquisition of Devante Adams and McDaniels as head coach.

Flip the side to the the Patriots, and their offense is a mess, poorly coached, and quarterback Mac Jones clearly misses McDaniels.

Which takes us to today. The Patriots will be shorthanded – running back Damien Harris has been ruled out, Jalen Mills won’t be on the field to cover Adams, and DeVante Parker won’t be around to catch the football. And while word is Jakobi Meyers should play, we don’t how effective he can be, either.

There wasn’t much sentimental McDaniels talk this week as he struggles in his second crack at being a head coach. And Belichick won’t get into any issues with his own transition away from his former OC.

“Again, we’ve talked about that,” he said this past week. “We’ve been in this transition every year. … Every year is a different year so they’re not hard, they’re not easy, you take it as it comes.”

Jones has issued some temper tantrums the last couple of weeks, adding to the drama. Nothing to see here.

“Everybody’s talking, everybody’s working together,” he said. “It’s my job as a quarterback to make sure that by the end of the week, no matter what happens, that it’s situated, and everything looks good and we’re ready to go.”

The Raiders are good up front, which sometimes masks their secondary weakness. We’ll see if Jones is able to do what Baker Mayfield incredibly did 10 days ago to this Raider team. Had Vegas won that game, this one may have been played at night.

Meanwhile, the Patriots have to have this. They loose, when playoff time comes around, they snooze.

Silly us we have a narrow field of games as this should have been written for Satuday with the NFL staging three games yesterday. But, this is what we have left to work with, and given last week’s abysmal 3-4 mark, we get what we deserve:

PATRIOTS 27, RAIDERS 24

Sure, Josh McDaniels probably knows the ins and outs and ways to beat Jones and the New England offense. But the Raiders’ defense stinks, and the effects of that awful blown lead vs. the Rams on a Thursday night that seems ages ago will linger. Pats take bold move toward a playoff berth.

CHARGERS 24, TITANS 17

Tennessee’s swoon continues, and it’s hard to imagine why. But theTitans will have seven starters out, and the Chargers – despite their soft nature – should pull this one out. Justin Herbert isn’t great, but he is the better QB in this one.

LIONS 24, JETS 21

If Mike White were the Jets QB, we’d call this a winner for New York. Zach Wilson won’t look as bad as he did vs. the Patriots because the Lions defense is suspect, and Detroit’s offense won’t score as much as usual because the Jets defense is darn good. But the Lions have momentum. We think they’ll actually make the playoffs.

COMMANDERS 24, GIANTS 13

Yes, Patriot fans, we know you won’t be watching Sunday night in jealousy after this game bumped the Pats out of Sunday Night Football. It actually should be a good game for a bit but the Giants blew it in the tie, their defense is banged up and porous, and this Washington team is going to the playoffs.

PANTHERS 27, STEELERS 10

Don’t look now, but Carolina is hoping to close in on Tampa Bay and Tom Brady as the NFC South is looking like the NFC East did two years ago. The Steelers have a ways to go to get back to where they used to be. Has Carolina finally gotten Sam Darnold to not stink? Maybe. Remember, they hold the tiebreaker over Brady & Co. courtesy of a 21-3 win earlier this season.

BENGALS 30, BUCCANEERS 17

Tampa Bay is not a good team right now, and the Bengals are. Who is the better QB in this one? Yes, it’s Joe Burrow. Cincy warms up before it’s Christmas Eve visit to Gillette.

COWBOYS 30, JAGUARS 21

Houston woke Dallas up. The Jags are a mystery, except Trevor Lawrence finally seems to be getting it as an NFL quarterback. The Cowboys look like a team that can win a Wild Card round game but lose in the divisional. And team that certainly can win in Jacksonville.

LAST WEEK: 3-4

SEASON: 55-43

Tom King may be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow King on Twitter (@Telegraph_TomK).