Las Vegas Defense Keeps Struggling In Latest Loss To Buffalo

If you look closely, there are many similarities between the Las Vegas Raiders' 30-27 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4 and Sunday's 33-30 setback to the Buffalo Bills.

Beyond the similar final scores and the superficial fact that both defeats came at Allegiant Stadium, the Raiders outgained both opponents (437-399 vs. KC and 378-345 vs. Buffalo), had more passing yards (365-210 and 313-242) and had more first downs (28-18 and 25-23) in each game, but still came out on the losing end.

That leads to maybe the biggest difference between the two games.

While the Raiders exited their Week 4 loss thinking the good vibes from their 3-0 start may be sustainable because of the way they battled and hung in against an opponent who had had their number in recent years, Sunday's mood had to be much gloomier following their third straight loss.

That's because for the third consecutive week - heck, make it four after the Raiders allowed 381 yards and 27 points to the New Orleans Saints in their Week 3 win - the defense struggled mightily.

It is now three straight games that the Raiders have allowed 30 or more points to their opponents, which is an average of 36 per game against the Chiefs, New England Patriots and Bills.

Sunday's defensive capitulation may be even more frustrating because of the way it occurred.

Look at how Buffalo's first three drives of the game unfolded:

• 9 plays, 30 yards, 4:48 elapsed time, Tyler Bass 44-yard field goal

• 10 plays, 58 yards, 4:42 elapsed time, Bass 28-yard field goal

• 9 plays, 85 yards, 5:48 elapsed time, Josh Allen 9-yard touchdown pass to Khalil Shakir

That's 28 plays, 173 yards and nearly 15-and-a-half minutes of possession in the game's first 23 minutes.

Granted, the Raiders were able to move the ball themselves and actually took an early 7-3 lead on Ashton Jeanty's 1-yard touchdown run with 4:32 left in the first quarter.

It's also instructive to note that when the Raiders finally did force a three-and-out, with 1:48 left in the first half, it allowed them to drive for a 27-yard Matt Gay field goal that tied the game 13-13 at halftime.

It was more of the same in the third quarter, however, as Buffalo's first drive covered nine plays and 37 yards in 4:40 before Gay's 47-yard FG restored their lead at 16-13.

Las Vegas quarterback Kirk Cousins - who surpassed the 46,000-yard barrier in career passing yardage during the game - then made his only mistake of the contest. He tried to force a pass to tight end Michael Mayer over the middle and it was picked off by Bills' linebacker Dorian Williams at the Raiders' 32.

Six plays later, Allen found Keon Coleman for a 12-yard TD and suddenly it was 23-13 and the Raiders would be chasing the game for the contest's final 21-plus minutes.

Now defensive coordinator Rob Leonard has some tough questions to answer as the Raiders continue to navigate an extremely difficult part of the schedule. As mentioned, the good vibes are probably gone, as seemingly is the Raiders' ability to generate sacks and turnovers, which they did at league-best rates while they were winning their first three games.

Those avenues of defensive success have pretty much dried up since then - five sacks and one takeaway combined in the three straight losses - and now it appears that the Raiders' D will also have to come up with more effective ways to get off the field quicker after the Bills successfully employed their death-by-a-thousand-cuts offense on Sunday.