Buffalo Bills Beat Las Vegas Raiders 33-30: Instant Reactions

It was tighter than they would’ve liked, but the Buffalo Bills went into Las Vegas and got the job done, beating the Raiders 33-30 on Sunday night.

The win moves Buffalo to 5-1 heading into their Week 7 bye. It also keeps them in first place in the AFC East, a game ahead of the New England Patriots. 

Here are the positives and negatives from Sunday’s Week 6 win. 

Josh Allen - After a few weeks of questionable decisions, Allen played smart football from start to finish. He was efficient, took what the defense gave him, and led the Bills offense to 30 points yet again. Oh, and we can’t forget about that touchdown pass to Keon Coleman.

Allen went 23-of-33 for 255 yards and two touchdowns. He also tied Jim Kelly for the most passing touchdowns in Bills history at 258 (including playoffs). 

Keon Coleman - At this point, Coleman deserves more targets, even when DJ Moore returns. Coleman finished with 4 catches for 59 yards and a touchdown. He now has a touchdown in three straight games for the first time in his career.

James Cook - No fumbles and another great game from Buffalo’s lead back. Cook had 18 carries for 84 yards and a touchdown. He also added three catches for 44 yards for good measure.

Tyler Bass - A week after making the game-winning kick against the Rams, Bass was perfect on Sunday. He went 3-for-3 on extra points and 4-for-4 on field goals, including a long of 47 yards. He is a perfect 13-for-13 on field goals this season

Run Defense - The Bills gave up just 65 yards on 20 carries. A drastic improvement from a year ago. 

Christian Benford - He was matched up on Brock Bowers for most of the afternoon and did well. The Raiders’ number one target didn’t have his first catch until four minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Three of Bowers’ four catches came when Benford wasn’t shadowing him.

Dorian Williams - Your first career interception deserves to be acknowledged.

C.J. Gardner-Johnson - If the Bills wanted to release the journeyman safety after this game, no one would blame him. He had two badly missed tackles, including one where, after missing the tackle, he got up and jogged slowly while his teammates chased down Raiders tight end Michael Mayer. 

But that pales in comparison to what happened after. Gardner-Johnson was ejected from the game after spitting at Las Vegas’ Brock Bowers. He then decided to head to social media to start blocking anyone and everyone who criticized him while he sat in the locker room. 

Third-down defense - What else can be said about how bad Buffalo is on third down? While they got a couple of stops, it wasn’t enough to give you any sort of confidence in the unit. They allowed the Raiders to go 7-for-12 on 3rd down, including 6-of-8 on 3rd-and-medium (3rd and 6+) or longer conversions.

Pass defense - This pass defense is going to go down as the worst in franchise history by the time the season ends. I’m very confident in that. Receivers were left wide open on every drive, with very few pass breakups and stops. Las Vegas had 313 yards through the air and two passing touchdowns. 

Scoring defense - Overall, Buffalo’s defense gave up 30 points, 25 first downs, and 378 total yards. They’ve only held a team under 29 points this season once. They’ve given up 30+ in four of their six games.

It's to the point where the defense is going to lose the Bills some big games if the offense isn't playing at an elite level every week.

Davison Igbinosun - Two killer penalties that kept drives going and led to Las Vegas points. The defense isn’t playing well as is; they don’t need to help the offense with penalties.

Penalties - Speaking of penalties. It was another day when penalties on both sides of the ball hurt the Bills. They ended up with 7 for 55 yards, including one by O’Cyrus Torrence that took a touchdown away from Dalton Kincaid.