Three Areas of Concern for Bills in Week 6 Road Matchup vs. Raiders

The Buffalo Bills have had an interesting week in the National Football League.

After narrowly escaping with a nailbiting victory against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Monday Night Football to end Week 5, which included a feisty postgame altercation between Bills’ outside linebacker Bradley Chubb and Rams’ left tackle Alaric Jackson.

Immediately after the overtime thriller, Buffalo’s coaches and players quickly jetted down to the UC Irvine campus in Orange County to prepare for their next matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders
slated for Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET at Allegiant Stadium..

The Bills head into the game currently holding the best record in the AFC East following their most recent win.

For the Raiders, though, it’s a situation that they find themselves in after two straight AFC losses against the Kansas City Chiefs and Patriots, which comes on the heels of a surprising 3-0 start.

Undoubtedly, first-year head coach Klint Kubiak’s group will be motivated to avoid a three-game skid, and it’ll take a full 60-minute effort—if not even more—from Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen and Co. to come away victorious on the road once again.

Here are three areas of concern for Buffalo regarding the team’s ability to accomplish that very goal before its Week 7 bye.

1. Turnover differential has been dicey for Bills, and Raiders haven’t buckled in critical area

So far this season, the Bills have struggled with turnovers, particularly over the past three weeks against the Los Angeles Chargers, New England Patriots, and Los Angeles Rams.

Surprisingly, or maybe not so much for those paying close attention, quarterback Josh Allen and running back James Cook III have been the main culprits for the miscues on offense, particularly during this past three-game stretch where Buffalo is losing the turnover battle by a ratio of 1:3, meaning the offense is turning the ball over three times as much as the defense is forcing any turnovers of its own.

For perspective, the Bills have turned the ball over nine times in their last three matchups while forcing just three over their own . . . which makes the turnover ratio seem even more worrisome given the glaring number of offensive mishaps recently.

The team will need to shore things up in that department moving forward, but it’ll be a tough task to do so in Week 6 against Las Vegas, a squad that currently ranks 11th in the league with a turnover differential of +3.

Meanwhile, Buffalo is ranked 24th in that specific statistic with a turnover differential of -4 through five weeks.

And, given that the team seemingly isn’t moving in a positive direction with its turnover struggles, it’s definitely an area that the Raiders could wind up taking advantage of on Sunday afternoon out West.

Holding on to the ball will be key for the Bills.

2. Reining in Raiders’ tight ends will be tricky for Buffalo’s defense

So far this fall, outside of a few bright spots, Buffalo’s defense has been horrendous. And, new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard isn’t shying away from the criticism. 

In fact, Bills ON SI recently highlighted Leonhard’s comments regarding his unit’s pitiful display on the field to start the season, and Leonhard certainly didn’t mince his words: changes appear to be on the way.

But, even with that said, those significant shifts might not occur until after the upcoming bye given the short week Buffalo currently finds itself in following a much-needed victory on Monday. 

So, the defense could still be pretty shaky on Sunday against Las Vegas, and a major area of concern will be how the AFC West squad chooses to attack the Bills with their top two tight ends.

Entering Week 6, Brock Bowers (24 receptions, 312 yards, 3 TDs), who is second in the NFL for receiving yards at his position, and Michael Mayer (21 receptions, 171 yards, 1 TDs) have combined to make 45 receptions for 483 yards and four touchdowns thus far.

Furthermore, third-string tight end Ian Thomas has even registered four receptions for 52 yards and one touchdown.

It’ll be up to safeties Cole Bishop and C.J. Gardner-Johnson, as well as Buffalo’s linebacking corps, to keep both players in check. So far, though, that hasn’t been the case.

The Bills, as a whole, have allowed 28 receptions for 300 yards and one touchdown to opposing tight ends in 2026.

3. Bills’ OL vs. Raiders’ pass rush could prove to be a factor

Although Buffalo’s offensive line hasn’t been terrible by any stretch of the imagination this season, the unit has been a bit more productive in terms of run blocking versus pass blocking, which has seemingly always been the case since Josh Allen has been the franchise quarterback in Western New York.

So far this season, Buffalo’s offensive front has given up 10 sacks through five games, which is currently tied for the 12th worst in the NFL for sacks surrendered.

On the opposite side, Las Vegas’ defense ranks 10th in the league with a total of 13 sacks, and that’s with superstar edge rusher Maxx Crosby accounting for just two quarterback takedowns right now. Crosby does, however, possess a pass-rush win rate of 27% according to ESPN's database, which ranks eighth in the NFL right now.

In addition to that scary fact, his teammate Malcolm Koonce—an alum of the University at Buffalo who happens to lead the Raiders with three sacks—also posseses a pass-rush win rate of 24%, which currently ranks 19th in the NFL. For comparison, despite leading the league in total pressures according to Pro Football Focus, as well as being second in the NFL in sacks with six, Bills' veteran outside linebacker Gregory Rousseau isn't even in the top-20 for pass-rush win rate.

Needless to say, the Raiders will be looking to get after Allen behind the line of scrimmage on Sunday, and it will be prudent that the Bills’ offensive line keeps him upright.

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