Josh Allen led two key touchdowns in the second half as the Bills held off a scrappy Raiders team Sunday at Allegiant Stadium, winning 33-30. The Bills were mostly in control after the Raiders briefly led early, but they had to pull out the win with several late conversions.
Matt Gay’s fourth field goal of the game gave the Bills a 10-point lead with 1:56 to play, but they still had to sweat on a late Kirk Cousins TD and onside kick.
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The Bills recovered and hung on to win. It wasn’t easy.
Allen completed 23 of 33 passes for 255 yards and two scores, including a circus TD reverse. He wasn’t as much of a factor as a scrambler, only rushing for 4 yards twice (not counting knees), but on several occasions he avoided the rush to make big plays in the passing game.
The Bills were once again without two key players, wide receiver DJ Moore and defensive tackle Ed Oliver, earning their second straight victory without the pair. Buffalo (5-1) is 3-0 on the road.
The Raiders lost their third straight game after a 3-0 start to the season, falling to .500 overall. Cousins had a huge fourth quarter, throwing for 313 yards and hitting Tre Tucker for a 44-yard bomb to make it a one-score game.
But Cousins’ third-quarter pick on the Bills’ Dorian Williams set up Allen’s TD that gave Buffalo a 10-point lead.
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The Bills lost safety CJ Gardner-Johnson for the game just before halftime when he was ejected for spitting in the direction of Raiders tight end Brock Bowers. The penalty helped set up a Raiders field goal before halftime that tied the game at 13-all.
Buffalo regained the lead on its first play of the third quarter, but by three points, not seven. Allen appeared to hit Las Vegas native Dalton Kincaid for a hometown touchdown, but he was called back into holding by O’Cyrus Torrence.
The Bills settled for a 16-13 lead. Kincaid then left the game with a rib injury, but returned in the fourth quarter and made a big catch on the final score.
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Buffalo took a 23-13 lead thanks to Allen’s brilliant TD improvisation, buying time in the pocket, stepping up and drawing several Raiders defenders before backhanding the ball to Keon Coleman for the highest-scoring TD of his career.
The Raiders responded with a 15-play, 70-yard drive that lasted nearly eight minutes. They scored a second goal from the Buffalo one-yard line, but couldn’t make it, settling for another field goal, which cut the Bills’ lead to 23-16.
After a quick punt by the Bills, the Raiders began another long march – nine plays and 91 yards – for the tying score. Bowers made two huge catches on the drive, and Cousins finished with a beautiful lob TD to Tucker in the middle of tight coverage for the first of two TD hookups on the day between them.
But the Raiders were never able to regain the lead, losing another tough game in what was an encouraging start under head coach Klint Kubiak.
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