ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Sure, the Oakland Raiders are chock full of slogans and sayings, from "Commitment to Excellence" to "Pride and Poise" to "Just Win, Baby."
Another mantra, though, has been exhorted as the Raiders prepare to face the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots on Sunday in Mexico City's Estadio Azteca: "Respect Everyone but Fear No One."
Or some such.
"It's not a scary thing to play them," Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said of the Patriots, when asked about Bill Belichick excelling at taking away opposing offenses' bread-and-butter plays.
"They're the next team on the schedule. Let's not make it something it's not, but let's respect that they're very smart. They're very wise in how they game plan things. They have great players that can do it.
"If they're going to try to take things away, that's this league. Every team tries to take things away that you do good, and you try to hit them with other things. It works both ways, offensively and defensively, in that sense."
This was supposed to be the year -- the week, really -- that the Raiders and Patriots passed each other in the Mexico City night, Oakland a team on the rise and New England finally showing its age and going into decline.
It would be the karmic comeuppance Raider Nation has awaited since that snowy Foxborough night in January 2002 when the Tuck Rule Game launched a dynasty in New England and hastened the Raiders' slip.
And yes, the Raiders ended their 13-season playoff drought last year and went 12-4, setting themselves up nicely as a sexy Super Bowl pick this offseason with so much front-line talent. But an uneven offense and a leaky defense have contributed to a four-game losing streak, and the Raiders enter this game just 4-5. The Patriots are 7-2.
"They're just a good team. ... Everything looks cohesive when you're watching them play," Raiders receiver Amari Cooper said. "A real disciplined team."
And yet ...
The soft underbelly of the Patriots is their defense, which is ranked last in the NFL, giving up 408.3 yards per game. But while the Patriots surrender yards by the bushel, they are not giving up a lot of points. No team has scored more than 17 against them in their past five games, all wins, in which opponents have averaged 13.4 points.
"They've given up a lot of yards and things like that, so we definitely feel like we can go in and attack them," Cooper said, "on the ground and in the air."
Much has been said about the Patriots having the top-ranked offense in the league, as well as the most potent passing attack behind Tom Brady, and the Raiders having yet to intercept a pass this season. So perhaps Oakland's best shot is to get into a high-scoring affair.
Besides, if Carr was not intimidated by the Patriots in New England in his third career start back in 2014, why would he be now?
"He's very impressive," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said of Carr. "He can make all the throws. Smart, reads coverages well ... I'd say he does a tremendous job. The Raiders have great skill players -- running backs, tight ends, receivers -- and a great offensive line. So there's a lot of weapons on offense, and Carr makes it all go.
"They're tough. They're really good on offense. Excellent talent, and they can score in a hurry, really from any place on the field at any position. So they're hard to defend."
It was on Sept. 21, 2014, when Carr had the Raiders at the Patriots' 6-yard line with 1:02 to go and Darren McFadden ran it in for a seeming game-tying touchdown, but Gabe Jackson was called for holding.
One play later, Carr's pass to Denarius Moore bounced off the receiver and into the waiting arms of nose tackle Vince Wilfork, and the Patriots escaped with the 16-9 victory as Carr completed 21 of 34 passes for 174 yards.
Beat the Patriots this time, and the Raiders will begin living up to all that preseason hype.
"There’s no doubt about it, because we still are that team," Carr said. "We have the same people, so we didn't think too highly or low of ourselves. We're the same guys waking up at 5 in the morning and coming into work while other people are still sleeping. We're going to continue to be that team, the ones that do the little things right. We're going to continue to be that because that's the culture that we've built here.
"Guys had time now to look on the bye week and say, 'Man, I can do that better' or 'I can do this better.' Now let's just go do it. You've pointed it out, now fix it. ... Hopefully, at the end of the day, those little things add up. Like you said, we're going to start this last half of the year and go on a roll."