LAS VEGAS - The Buffalo Bills have been defying the odds since the middle of 2025, continually giving up 30 points on defense, yet finding a way to win.
When they did it last week in Los Angeles, they established an NFL record by winning for the sixth straight time while getting shredded for 30 or more, and Sunday in Las Vegas, they upped the ante and made it seven straight as they outlasted the Raiders 33-30 at Highmark Stadium West, er, Allegiant Stadium.
Playing in front of what felt like a home crowd, the Bills’ defense continued to get worked over for 25 first downs, 378 yards, and 7-for-12 on third downs, but in the end, Josh Allen worked more of his magic, with some key contributions from James Cook and several receivers, and the Bills head into the bye week at 5-1 and sitting atop the AFC East.
“It's football, we play how we need to play,” Allen said when I asked him if it was sustainable to keep needing at least 30 points to win games. “We just have to score one more point than they do, that's just how it rolls sometimes. And we're not going to sit here and say we can’t be better as an offense. We left a lot of points on the field.”
He was right, this was not an offensive masterpiece like the game against the Rams last Monday night. The Bills had to settle for four Tyler Bass field goals and they had a touchdown taken off the board because of a holding penalty on O’Cyrus Torrence.
Still, Joe Brady’s Bills are averaging 32.8 points per game, the second-most in the Super Bowl era through a head coach’s first six career games.
Here’s how I graded the Bills:
PASS OFFENSE: B
This was a weird day for the passing offense because there were so many times when Josh Allen didn’t have anywhere to go with the ball and he was just chucking it up looking for penalties, and he got a few, including two big ones on the third-quarter drive that ended with his TD pass to Keon Coleman on a crazy extended play where he flipped the ball backhanded to the end zone.
There was a clear intention to get the ball to Dalton Kincaid, something both Brady and Allen pledged to do this week. The result was eight targets and seven catches, though they went for a scant 38 yards. He did save his best for the end, a big 14-yard reception that helped set up the go-ahead TD that made it 30-23.
Coleman made a couple big plays in this game, the TD for sure, but he reeled in a 15-yarder on second-and-11 with three minutes to go that led to the clinching field goal. It was also nice to see James Cook involved and he had three catches for 58 yards including a 26-yarder that set up his go-ahead TD run.
RUN OFFENSE: B-
Allen’s decisions of when to run the ball and when not to run have been puzzling this season. After running wild against the Rams, he reverted to his play in the Patriots game when it was like he refused to do it. Part of that had to do with the Raiders, like the Patriots, spying him, but there seemed like there were chances where he could have broken contain and made positive yardage rather than forcing throws or simply throwing it away.
Cook had his usual array of successful runs that put the Bills in good down and distance and he finished with 95 yards and a 4.3 average, but a Raiders defense that was one of the worst in the league at the point of attack against the run actually did a decent job on him.
PASS DEFENSE: D
The problems remain enormous, and Kirk Cousins tore into Buffalo’s beleaguered back seven for 313 yards and two TDs without getting sacked and really not get pressured. It was a disappointing day for the pass rush, and that only exposed the secondary even more. However, it wasn’t all terrible.
CB Davison Igbinosun got nailed for interference in the end zone on Brock Bowers, setting up the Raiders first TD, and he was penalized for holding late in the second quarter on a third down that kept alive a Raiders field goal drive. On that same play,CJ Gardner-Johnson disgraced himself by spitting on a Raider and getting tossed from the game. But Igbinosun also had a couple nice plays including a breakup at the goal line early in the fourth quarter.
LB Dorian Williams made one of the biggest plays of the game when he intercepted Cousins midway through the third quarter at the Las Vegas 32. One key strategy move was CB Christian Benford matching up frequently with star Raiders TE Brock Bowers like he does on some of the No. 1 WRs and Bowers had only four catches for 70 yards.
Greg Rousseau had a pretty quiet day, but he had a deflected pass late in the game that helped the Bills get off the field. Pro Football Focus gave the Bills just 10 individual pressures, four by Rousseau, and that’s a painfully low number.
RUN DEFENSE: B+
It was fine, but it doesn’t even matter because teams know they don’t need to run against this defense, they can throw it all day and roll up and down the field. It’s the exact opposite of the past few years when teams knew they didn’t have to pass because they could run over and through the Bills at will.
Ashton Jeanty and Mike Washington each had a couple nice runs but they totaled only 65 yards. Terrel Bernard had a hand in that as he led the team with nine tackles and the team had four tackles for lost yardage including big ones by DTs Deone Walker and Greg Gaines.
SPECIAL TEAMS: A-
Bass was one of the biggest keys to the victory as he made all four of his field goal attempts and all three of his extra points for a 15-point day, the last of the field goals giving the Bills a 33-23 lead with 1:55 left. He is now 13-for-13 on field goals this season and he tied a club record with his 18th straight dating to last year (Rian Lindell, 2007).
Just like last week, Ray Davis had a big return on the opening kickoff, this time 40 yards to the Bills 44, but the Bills settled for a field goal. For the day he averaged 28.3 yards on three attempts. Greg Dortch averaged 23.5 on two, plus had a 22-yard punt return.
As always, the Bills’ coverage units were very good, one reason why they’ve had one of the best special teams units all season, and Khalil Shakir secured the win with an onside kick recovery. As for Tommy Doman, his second and final punt was a beauty, a 51-yarder that was fair caught at the 9 with 11:56 left in the game.
COACHING: C+
The offense had a terrible first half with game management. On the first series, Allen had to waste two timeouts, and then at the end of the second quarter, they went three-and-out with a bad offensive series when they had a chance to extend a 13-10 lead with a good two-minute drill.
Brady did a pretty good job in some key moments in the second half and in the end, his guys put up 33 points. On defense, Jim Leonhard is going to be a busy man over the bye week trying to find cures for his sick defense. The move to match up Benford on Bowers was smart, but where was the pressure, where was the blitz, especially against a 38-year-old statue in Cousins?
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills report card: Allen rescues woeful defense with more of his magic