Bills hang on to top feisty Raiders as Josh Allen out-dueled Kirk Cousins

Josh Allen led two key second-half touchdown drives 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 grind out the victory with several late conversions. Matt Gay’s fourth field goal of the game gave them a 10-point lead with 1:56 remaining, but they still had a sweat out a late Kirk Cousins TD and an onsides kick.

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 one circus, backhanded TD pass. He wasn’t as much of a factor as a scrambler, rushing only twice for 4 yards (not counting kneeldowns), but several times he evaded the rush to make big plays in the pass game.

The Bills were once again without two key players, wide receiver D.J. Moore and defensive tackle Ed Oliver, winning their second straight without the pair. Buffalo is now 5-1 overall and 3-0 on the road.

The Raiders dropped their third straight game following the 3-0 start to the season, falling back 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.

But Cousins’ third-quarter pick to the Bills’ Dorian Williams set up Allen’s highlight TD that gave Buffalo a 10-point lead.

The Bills lost safety C.J. 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 took the lead back on their opening drive of the third quarter, but by three points, not seven. Allen appeared to hit Las Vegas native Dalton Kincaid for a touchdown in his hometown, but it was called back on a hold from O’Cyrus Torrence.

The Bills settled for the field goal and a 16-13 lead. Kincaid later left the game with a rib injury but returned in the fourth quarter.

Buffalo took a 23-13 lead on Allen’s brilliant TD improvisation, buying time in the pocket, stepping up and drawing in multiple Raiders defenders before flipping the ball backhanded to Keon Coleman for the career highlight-reel TD.

The Raiders responded with a 15-play, 70-yard drive that took up nearly eight minutes. They had a 2nd-and-goal at the Buffalo 1-yard line but couldn’t punch it in, settling for another field goal, which cut the Bills’ lead to 23-16.

After a quick Bills punt, the Raiders went on another long march – nine plays and 91 yards – for the game-tying score. Bowers made two huge catches on the drive, and Kirk Cousins finished with a beautiful TD lob to Tucker amid tight coverage for the first of two TD hookups on the day between them.

But the Raiders could never regain the lead, dropping another tough game during what has been an encouraging start under head coach Kliff Kubiak.