Boy, are they still mad. Who’s still mad? The Oakland Raiders, of course. Heading into this weekend’s Sunday-night NFL match-up with the Patriots, everyone even remotely associated with the Silver and Black has been obsessed with this upcoming game, in the hopes that an Oakland win can somehow obliterate the dismal memories of that wintry New England night last January. The Raiders and their fans feel wronged; they feel that their much-deserved victory was rudely taken away from them on the basis of an on-field official’s dubious call. With the reversal of that particular call, a call which will live in infamy in Raiderland, the whole tenor of that AFC semifinal-playoff game changed, leading to a Patriots victory that night, and ultimately a New England world championship two weeks later. Were the Raiders robbed? That call will always be open to interpretation (and will be addressed below), but in the meantime, let’s re-evaluate the Snow Game itself, and determine if New England won it, or if Oakland lost it. Snowblowers at the ready? Then let’s plow ahead.

The first-ever prime-time NFL playoff game was held in Foxborough on Saturday, January 18, 2002. The host Patriots were riding a six-game win streak that had led them to the AFC East title on the basis of an 11-5 record. Oakland, meanwhile, had dropped three straight to finish the regular season, thereby forfeiting the home-field advantage and being relegated to a first-round date with the New York Jets on wild-card weekend. The Raiders, who had lost at home to the Jets in the regular-season finale to seal their fate, had bounced back a week later to eliminate New York and clinch a date with the Pats.

Snow had begun to fall around 4 p.m. that Saturday, and while NFL rules dictated that the tarp covering the field be removed two hours prior to the 8 p.m. starting time, the Kraft family decided to have the covering removed much earlier than that. Their reasons might have had something to do with the resulting frozen tundra that would favor the owners’ franchise, but whether their intentions were sinister or not, the fact was that there were at least three inches of snow on the ground at kickoff, and only the yard lines were cleared at game time. While it was not Green Bay–style cold, billowy snowflakes were falling at 45-degree angles throughout the contest.

Controversy reared its ugly head almost immediately, as a dubious spot by the referees in the opening series after a third-and-three running play apparently robbed Oakland of a first down. Raiders coach Jon Gruden challenged the spot; upon review, the resulting placement of the ball still left it three inches shy of the first-down mark. The Raiders’ promising drive was kaput, and the team had to punt.

The Patriots’ first drive also was auspicious, as the team parlayed a solid mix of rushes, passes, and Raiders penalties all the way to the Oakland 35. The conditions did not allow for a solid field-goal attempt, especially from that distance, so New England went for it on fourth down, but Tom Brady’s pass to David Patten fell incomplete.

On the next series, Oakland receiver Jerry Porter was knocked out of bounds after the reception from Raiders QB Rich Gannon, and fell on what appeared to be part of the rolled-up tarp. He got up clutching his shoulder, and would not play again.

The two teams exchanged punts on their next two possessions, and though Oakland switched to a no-huddle offense the next time it got the ball, for the second straight series, Gannon’s third-down pass was dropped, and the Raiders again had to kick it away. Oakland then proceeded to pin the Patriots deep, and with 58 seconds left in the first quarter, got the ball back at midfield after another dismal series by New England. A 12-yard run by running back Charlie Garner got the Raiders to the Pats’ 38 as the first quarter ended.

Oakland continued its march, and Jerry Rice’s 13-yard catch on third and seven extended the drive enough so that Gannon was able to hit receiver James Jett with a pass over NE cornerback Terrence Shaw in the corner of the end zone to give the Raiders the first score of the night. With 12:14 left in the half, it was 7-0 Oakland.

Brady was intercepted by Oakland DB Johnny Harris at the Pats’ 46 on the next series, but the New England defense tightened, and Oakland got nothing out of the INT and punted from the 36. In the first "What if?" of the night, the punt could have been downed by Oakland’s Derrick Gibson at the one-foot line, but the special-teams player was confused as to where he was on the snow-covered field, and instead downed the ball in the end zone for a touchback.

The boos began to rain down on the NE offense after Brady & Co. again went three-and-out, but Oakland again was unable to take advantage of good field position, and the Raiders were again stymied and forced to kick the eighth punt of the night with 5:50 left. The average starting field position at this point certainly benefited the visitors (Oakland: their own 40; New England: their own 21), but the Oakland defense continued to be the story, as Brady’s offense could not convert on its fifth third-down chance of the night, and punted again (though the Raiders again could do nothing).

The Patriots had one last chance before the break to do something, but after advancing all the way to the Oakland 36, Brady overthrew his receiver on third-and-three. The Patriots brain trust did not want to risk it on fourth down, and instead punted as the boos continued to cascade down from the aluminum bleachers as the first half ended. If you liked defense, this was your type of game; if you liked excitement, well, this was certainly lacking in it.

At least to this point.

Brady was only six-for-13 for 74 yards in the opening half, but the deficit was only seven points, and New England would receive the second-half kickoff. After Patrick Pass returned the kick to the 33, a questionable end-around to Troy Brown was snuffed out by the Raiders D for a nine-yard loss. Nonetheless, the Patriots offense began to move the ball, and two lengthy pass plays to Patten got New England all the way down to the Oakland five-yard-line before the Pats were forced to kick a 23-yard field goal. With 8:39 left in the third, it was 7-3 Oakland.

A four-minute drive led by Gannon resulted in another Oakland field goal with 4:14 left, and the Raiders’ lead was again seven. The low point for New England ensued, as the next series saw Brady fumble as he was being hit (shades of future events), and though he recovered it himself ("What if?" #2), it resulted in a seven-yard loss. Tight end Jermaine Wiggins dropped an easy screen pass on the next play, and the third-and-17 conversion also failed; ever-busy Ken Walter had to punt from his own goal line. Oakland then managed to march to the Patriots’ 28, where Sebastian Janikowski kicked what at the time seemed a "routine" 45-yard field goal to put the Raiders up 13-3. There was 1:41 left to play in the third, but little did anyone know that the tide was beginning to turn, and that Oakland would not hit pay dirt again on that frosty evening.

There was no reason to believe that victory was in the cards for New England, but when Larry Izzo recovered Troy Brown’s punt-return fumble with 12:29 left to play ("What if?" #3), it set the stage for the game-turning drive that would culminate with Brady stumbling into the end zone from seven yards out to close the gap to three points. Brady had operated out of a no-huddle shotgun formation by this point, and key pass plays to Patten and Wiggins (one key play included both, as Patten juggled the catch on the right sideline, and Wiggins, running behind him, caught the juggle midair before falling out of bounds to complete the four-yard gain), along with Brown and Kevin Faulk, got the Pats back in it with 7:52 left in regulation. After the PAT, it was 13-10 Raiders.

Oakland started its next offensive series on its 30, but New England’s effective blitzing often hurried Gannon’s throws, and the Raider drive stalled near midfield. New England would get the ball back with just 3:35 left. Alas, New England would generate little, and when Oakland got the ball back via a punt with 2:41 left, some chilly fans began the long trek to the parking lots. Though the Patriots had three time-outs left, Gannon had only to get a first down or two to clinch the 13-10 victory.

After a seven-yard first-down play, Patriots DBs Tebucky Jones and Richard Seymour made big stops on consecutive plays to halt the Raiders’ first-down efforts by a foot ("What if?" #4), and New England, despite having no time-outs left, would get the ball back for one last shot.

Brown converted a great punt return, but again fumbled near the end of the play, only to be rescued again by the remarkable Izzo, who recovered his second Brown fumble in three punts ("What if?" #5). Starting at their own 47, the Pats moved to the Raiders 42, and on first down, "The Play" happened.

With Brady looking left, he was hit from behind by college teammate Charles Woodson, who was blitzing. Since we all know what happened on that play — Brady fumbled, Raiders recovered, replay showed that his arm was moving forward, and call was changed to an incomplete pass (The biggest "What if?" of the night, but #6 in your program) — let’s move on to the meaty finale.

This was still the Raiders’ game. Less than two minutes were left to play, New England was out of time-outs, and the field was a mess. Nonetheless, a 13-yard reception by the mercurial Patten got the Pats to the Oakland 28, where fourth down loomed. The wind was behind kicker Adam Vinatieri, but it was still the long shot of long shots. Walter, the holder, quickly tried to clear the area where he would set down the ball, and with just 27 seconds left, Vinatieri line-drived it through the snowflakes. It coasted over the crossbar with just a few feet to spare to tie the game at 13-13. With this kick ("What if?" #7), NFL history changed forever.

By this time, herds of nonbelievers in the parking lot desperately tried to make their way back into the stadium. This most improbable of comebacks had come from a team that had scored three points in 52 minutes, but had now collected 10 in the final eight. Even more improbable, there had not been one penalty called in the entire second half.

The rest of the evening was fairly anticlimactic. After the Raiders lost the coin toss (they called it) — making for an intriguing "What if?" #8 — the Patriots, now buoyed by their late-game rally and the deafening support from their fans, calmly marched down the field for the game-winning field goal. There was one more "sweat it out" play, though: facing a fourth and four from the Raider 28, the Patriots eschewed a 46-yard field goal into the wind, and instead went for it. Brady’s pass over the middle to Patten, who was kneeling in wait just past the first-down marker, was nearly deflected and broken up by Wiggins, who for some reason ended up side-by-side with Patten. In spite of the mix-up in patterns, the first down was achieved ("What if?" #9), and three straight Antowain Smith runs got New England to within the 10, where the field-goal unit took over with 6:35 left.

Gruden called a time-out, supposedly to "ice" Vinatieri, but the break instead allowed his teammates to effectively clear out a huge patch from which to kick. After his previous efforts, this kick was a piece of cake for the eventual Super Bowl hero, and his 23-yarder put the exclamation point on the three-hour-and-25-minute contest.

Brady, who had been unmercifully booed just a half-hour earlier, had thrown for 238 yards after halftime (312 yards for the game), and he was now 12-3 as a starter in relief of his mentor, Drew Bledsoe. New England would continue its Cinderella ride a week later in Pittsburgh, and wear the glass slipper two weeks hence in the Big Easy.

Should the Raiders have been the ones to play for the AFC title? Fact was, the "Tuck Rule" that they have long complained about was enforced as it was written. Case closed. The Patriots did not benefit from a wrong call, they just benefited from the fact that, because the play happened in the last two minutes, it was automatically reviewed by the referee. Sure, it became a whole different ballgame because of this interpretation, but any one of the other "What ifs" could also have changed the game’s outcome.

The Patriots made the plays late, converted some gut-check opportunities, and shut down the vaunted Raiders offense when they had to. Would New England have won this game had it been played in Oakland? Probably not, but we’ll just add that to the list as "What if?" #10. Debate it all you want, but Raiders fans must concede that their team had plenty of opportunities late in the game to seal the victory with a first down here or there, but the team was unable to convert. And that opened the door for the gremlins to take over and close down Foxboro Stadium in extraordinary fashion.

A reversal in any one of the aforementioned instances could very easily have changed the outcome to a Raiders victory, and we’ll always wonder who would have won the Super Bowl if the Patriots had not showed up in their dress blues at the Superdome that day.

Fortunately, that’s one "What if?" that New England Patriots fans do not have to ponder.

Sporting Eye runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com