Krause: Wilfork, Pats live up to history of finding winning formula

FOXBOROUGH – There are so many ways you can spin Sunday?s 16-9 Patriots victory over the Oakland Raiders.We can start with the obvious. The Patriots? offense, once the scourge of the National Football League, is, as of this moment, wretched. The offensive line, minus all-pro Logan Mankins, simply cannot block.Following this line of reasoning, it?s safe to say the Patriots were lucky to win, and only did so because it was the Raiders — and not the Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos or even the Buffalo Bills — they were playing.Or, you can take another approach … that the Patriots played down to the level of the competition and, when the time comes, will turn around and play up to the levels of Kansas City (next Monday night), Denver, San Diego, Cincinnati, Green Bay and Indianapolis.Maybe. It?s happened before. And there are certainly enough all-pro-type players on the Patriots so that it could happen.Then there?s this: Good teams find a way to win games like this. Bad teams find a way to lose them. And right now, whether it?s deserved or simply by reputation, the Patriots are a good team; and the Raiders are not.That may change … and very well could change if the Patriots don?t get their offensive house in order. But until karma catches up with hubris, that?s the way it is in the NFL … and in all of sports. Sometimes it takes a while for the karma to catch up, however. And this may be one of those times.Until then, this was classic professional sports. The team used to winning played terrible and ended up ahead at the end of the game. The team used to losing played gamely, even courageously, but when it came down to the nitty-gritty — two crucial plays late in the game — the Raiders stumbled and the Patriots were there to make sure they stayed down.Initially, it looked like a classic “let ?em score now so we have enough time to come back down and kick a field goal” play. Its genus goes like this: New England?s Logan Ryan was called for pass interference at his own six-yard-line with 1:02 to go and the Patriots leading 16-9, capping off just a miserable day for him. He seemed to be a step behind all day.On the next play, Oakland?s Darren McFadden (held to 59 yards rushing) ran through a hole wider than the Red Sea during the Exodus for a six-yard touchdown run.?I saw them score,” quarterback Tom Brady said, “and I was getting ready to go in for the two-minute drill, and then …”And then the play was called back for holding.Still, there were 59 seconds left when Raiders quarterback Derek Carr — who had played well all afternoon — lofted a short pass over the middle that was batted through the air. Big Vince Wilfork dove between two Raiders to snag it, and fell to the ground (Blue Hills Observatory recorded a 4.5 on the Richter scale), hanging on for dear life.And that was that. The Patriots took three knees and Brady threw the ball out of bounds with no time left on the clock and New England had what could be considered its luckiest win in the Bill Belichick era.Consider: In this glorified field goal kicking contest, the Patriots were in the red zone four times (including their touchdown) and only scored one touchdown. The Raiders were worse because Sebastian Janikowski booted two of his three field goals with the Raiders beyond the Patriots 20.?I always try to read the quarterback,” Wilfork said, “especially (in) the type of defense we were in … rushing only three and knowing we couldn?t get tied up up front. We always tell people to stay in front of the quarterback and maybe you can get a tipped ball or bat a ball down, or something like that … I saw the quarterback release the ball and I just turned. I had some defenders there with me and the ball bobbled, and luckily I came up with (it).”As far as Wilfork was concerned, it was a team interception, even though he has a penchant for coming up with these opportune plays at the right time (it was his third career pick, and two of them have been against Oakland).?I