Bills Defense Considers Raiders Offense A Defining Test

The Las Vegas Raiders play the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, and the Bills’ perspective on this game is the basically the opposite of the Raiders. They’re already considered a playoff team, but the Bills need their defense to step up and do a better job of supporting all-world quarterback Josh Allen. 

The Bills defense has been an inconsistent unit so far, and it’s clearly frustrating defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, who’s trying to communicate a sense of urgency, according to Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic. That's nto  easy for a team that’s coming in at 4-1. 

Buscaglia described the Buffalo defense as a “high-wire act,” which is generous for a unit that gives up an average of 31.3 points per game. The Bills’ back seven is susceptible to big plays, per the writer, which is why Buffalo needs a quick pass rush to get home. 

Fortunately, the Raiders don’t have a lot of playmakers. Their offense has been all tight ends, all the time, so it’s been Brock Bowers and maybe receiver Tre Tucker, although the jury remains very much out on Tucker. 

Buffalo’s strength is at linebacker, where Greg Rousseau and Bradley Chubb have been playing well, but they’re also both playing a lot of snaps. The Raiders’ offensive tackles will need to hold up against this pair, and it will be interesting to see if the Bills up the ante by duplicating what the New England Patriots did by showing a lot of blitz looks. 

Buscaglia praised the Bills cornerbacks, but does it really matter? The Raiders have Tucker to try to stretch the field and not much else to date, so the focus will be on the tight end matchup. 

If there’s a key player to focus on in this aspect of the game, it’s safety C.J. Gardner. He’s had some good moments, per Buscaglia, but he also takes himself out of position, and coach Klint Kubiak will doubtless have some strategies to take advantage of that. 

If Gardner is matched up on Bowers the Raiders will target him, and he may even be targeted against second tight end Michael Mayer.

The other big question here is whether Kubiak tries to take the air out of the ball to slow down Allen and company. The rookie coach got sped up when New England took an early lead, and the Raiders don’t have nearly enough firepower to recover from big disadvantages, even against a defense that’s giving up over 30 points a game.