Raiders Competitive Against Buffalo Bills In 33-30 Loss, But Coach Klint Kubiak Says Raiders Must ‘Close Games Out;’ Raiders Fall To 3-3; Rams Next
Story summary
— Final: Bills 33 Raiders 30
— Raiders outgained the Bills, 378-345, with Cousins throwing for 313 yards
— Coach Klint Kubiak: “Two for five in the red zone and that’s unacceptable.”
— Raiders’ three wins are over teams (Dolphins, Chargers, Saints) with a combined two wins. Losses to Chiefs, defending AFC champion New England and now Bills
— Raiders were competitive, but Buffalo had the more balanced attack with James Cook running 22 times for 95 yards
— Next game for Raiders is vs LA Rams Oct. 25.
Kubiak
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — When Buffalo Bills star quarterback Josh Allen completed a ten-yard pass to runner Ty Johnson, the crowd exploded with cheers and roars as the Bills gained a first down at the Raiders 20-yard line late in the first quarter.
It was an impressively loud crowd response.
The twist is we are not in western New York State.
It’s the home stadium of the Las Vegas Raiders, which hosted another game at the Raiders-built Allegiant Stadium where the visiting team enjoyed the positive crowd vibes.
Don’t misconstrue. There were plenty of fans wearing silver and black.
But the Raiders are now in their sixth season here in Las Vegas and based on the noise levels and colors in the crowd, the opposing team had at least half the crowd in its favor. That’s not unusual for sunbelt market teams like the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium and the Arizona Cardinals at their Phoenix-area stadium in Glendale.
The truth is that every play at today’s Bills-Raiders game elicited a cheer and yell as the Raiders clung to a 7-6 lead midway through the second quarter before Allen threw a short touchdown pass to Khalil Shakir for a Buffalo 13-7 led. Ashton Jeanty’s one-yard TD rush had been sandwiched by Buffalo field goals of 44 and 28 yards by placekicker Tyler Bass.
The Raiders’ running game needed to improve to chew up time against a high-powered Buffalo offense led by the multi-talented Allen. The Raiders were dead last in the 32-team NFL averaging only three yards a rush entering the game.
Matt Gay booted a 35-yard field goal to cut the Buffalo lead to 13-10. Another Gay FG at the half brought the score to 13-13 at the break.
A Buffalo field goal, an interception by the Bills and an Allen shot put TD toss of 12 yards to Keon Coleman had the Bills enjoying a 23-13 lead in the third quarter.
After Allen made his shot put touchdown pass, chants of MVP could be heard in the Raiders stadium.
Then, the Raiders rallied. Gay’s third field goal followed by a pinpoint toss from Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins to Tre Tuker.
It was 23-23 with five minutes left in the game.
But the Bills just keep on coming at the Raiders and Allen led a TD drive that ended with runner James Cook pushed into the end zone with a terrific offensive line surge.
The Raiders faced another deficit at 30-23.
A Buffalo field goal padded the score to 33-23 before the Raiders scored on a gorgeous long pass from Cousins to Tucker for 44 yards with 1:32 left.
Final: Bills 33 Raiders 30
The Bills are now 5-1.
The Raiders lost their third in a row and dropped to 3-3.
The Los Angeles Rams visit next Sunday.
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