FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — With the offense continuing to struggle, it took the New England defense to make the play that allowed the Patriots to escape with a win on Sunday.

Nose tackle Vince Wilfork came down with a deflected interception at his team’s 12-yard line with 51 seconds left to seal a 16-9 home-opening victory over the winless Oakland Raiders.

“We have to find a way to score more points. If we don’t, we’re going to get beat,” quarterback Tom Brady said after the Pats won their second straight to go to 2-1. “We’ve got to play a lot better … we’re capable of it.”

Brady has yet to throw for 250 yards in a game. He has been sacked seven times, fumbled a ball away. He hasn’t been intercepted and has one touchdown pass in each game, but his throws, like the overall offense, have been inconsistent — as has his offensive line, which is allowing him to get hit.

“We need to do a better job of getting the ball in the end zone,” Brady said.

The inability to convert off a first down at the Oakland 2 led to one of Stephen Gostkowski’s three field goals. It also was one of the things that allowed Oakland (0-3, with nine straight losses dating back to last season) to hang in.

The Raiders thought they tied the game when running back Darren McFadden scored from six yards out with 1:02 left. But a holding penalty on guard Gabe Jackson erased the score sent the ball back to the 12-yard line.

Rookie Derek Carr then hit Denarius Moore with a pass, but the ball bounced off Moore, hit New England cornerback Logan Ryan and deflected to Wilfork, who made his third career interception, the second against Oakland.

“That’s was a team play,” said Wilfork, who added, “The credit doesn’t go all to me.”

Oakland had gotten down to the 6 on a pass interference call on Ryan on a long Carr pass.

Tight end Rob Gronkowski, continuing his comeback from knee surgery, caught his second touchdown pass of the season for the only TD of the game. Later, he failed to hold a pass that was deflected by safety Charles Woodson in the end zone. That was one of the unsuccessful plays down near the goal line.

It was Oakland’s 15th straight loss in the Eastern time zone.

“We fought hard and I’m proud of every one of us,” said linebacker Miles Burris. “It was a heartbreaking way to lose. That is what hurts.”

Brady was 24 of 37 for 234 yards, 84 of them to favorite receiver Julian Edelman, who had 10 catches — his fourth career 10-reception game. Brady also threw a key block on a late running play by Shane Vereen.

What the Raiders said:

“It stings very bad. Any time you go out there and get that close you want to capitalize on it. We just weren’t able to capitalize off of it today.” — RB Darren McFadden after the loss.

“It was a close one. We fought hard and we couldn’t come up with the plays that we needed.” — S Charles Woodson after the game.

What the Patriots said:

“No. No, we haven’t and you know what, we’re going to work toward it and see if we can get better at it.” — QB Tom Brady when asked if his offense has felt in rhythm through three games.

“Watch every game in the NFL — what happened last week isn’t what happens this week. That’s not the way it is in the NFL. Each game is its own game.” — Coach Bill Belichick on the Raiders playing better this week

What we learned about the Raiders:

1. They might not “suck,” after all. Last week, safety Charles Woodson said “we suck” but Sunday the Raiders came out and were within a holding call of forcing overtime at New England. The defense held the Patriots to one touchdown and the offense had its chances.

2. Derek Carr has a future in this league, and it might be now. The rookie, playing in his third game, looked poised and kept things under control in the loss. “He’s a young quarterback and he did a great job,” said running back Darren McFadden. “I feel like he handled himself very well and kept the team (together) and handled them well, too.”

–Rookie QB Derek Carr, showing poise and a willingness to throw right at start CB Darrell Revis, played a strong game. Carr was 21-for-34 for 174 yards and a deflected interception, was not sacked and showed some veteran judgment in his second road game. In three games, he is 68 of 108 for 588 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. He has a 74.9 quarterback rating.

–K Sebastian Janikowski kicked three field goals, on his first three tries of the season, on three attempts to account for all of Oakland’s points in the loss. The nine points sent him over the 1,500 mark for his distinguished NFL career. He hit from 49, 37 and 47.

–RB Darren McFadden took over the team rushing lead — from Derek Carr — with 59 yards on the ground on Sunday. He has 111 yards on 34 carries this season. Carr didn’t have a carry on Sunday and has 57 yards on five tries, 41 of them coming on one try.

What we learned about the Patriots:

1. This offense needs a lot of work; and it starts with the offensive line. Tom Brady finds himself running and ducking for his life and has already been sacked seven times. He has yet to throw for 250 yards in a game but the team is 2-1 and can hang its collective hat on that as it heads into Kansas City.

2. That Julian Edelman has turned into Wes Welker. The feeling was that the Patriots had signed Danny Amendola to a big-bucks contract to take Welker’s spot as the slot receiver. Instead, Edelman continues to be the man, with over 100 catches last year and 22 in the first three games of the 2014 season.

–QB Tom Brady recorded the 150th regular-season victory. That is third on the NFL’s all-time list.

–TE Rob Gronkowski, who continues his battle back from knee surgery, caught his second touchdown pass of the season on Sunday and has recorded at least one catch in his last 53 games. It was his 44th TD pass from Brady, with the duo now tied for third for the most passes from a QB to his TE. San Diego’s Phil Rivers to Antonio Gates is the all-time leader, at 63, and Brady and Gronkowski are tied with the then-Indianapolis duo of Peyton Manning and Dallas Clark.

–DT Vince Wilfork came down with the game-clinching deflected interception in the final minute to seal Sunday’s win. It was the third pick of the big guy’s career, two of them coming against Oakland. His other two INTs came in 2011. “Luckily I just came up with the play,” he said. “That was a great defensive play (by the unit).”

–WR Julian Edelman continues to be Brady’s top target. After catching six passes in each of the first two games, the slot man grabbed 10 for 84 yards on Sunday, the fourth double-digit reception game of his career. As far as the struggles of the offense, he said, “If we get better every week, that’s our goal. We’re going to have a tough one ahead of us with Monday Night Football against Kansas City.”