Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes, James Cook rushed for 95 yards and the go-ahead touchdown, and the Buffalo Bills beat the Las Vegas Raiders 33-30 on Sunday in Las Vegas.
Allen completed 23 of 33 passes for 255 yards, and Dalton Kincaid had seven receptions for 38 yards. Keon Coleman caught four passes for 59 yards and a touchdown for Buffalo (5-1).
For Las Vegas (3-3), Kirk Cousins completed 23 of 41 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns to Tre Tucker, who caught five passes for 97 yards. Tight ends Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer combined for 11 receptions and 165 yards.
The Raiders didn’t go down easily. Cousins launched a 44-yard touchdown pass to Tucker, who made a diving, headfirst grab in the end zone to trim the deficit to 33-30 with 92 seconds remaining before Buffalo recovered the ensuing onside kick attempt.
The same connection helped the Raiders tie the game at 23-all with 8:07 left. Tucker broke toward the sideline and away from Christian Benford for an 11-yard touchdown.
It took Allen only seven plays to go 66 yards and answer with Cook plowing in from 3 yards out for a 30-23 lead with 4:43 remaining.
Buffalo reclaimed possession after three consecutive Cousins incompletions. Allen hit Coleman for 15 yards to move the chains, and Cook picked up eight yards and then three more to force Las Vegas to use its second timeout with 2:36 to go.
Treydan Stukes stopped Cook for a 1-yard gain and wrapped up Khalil Shakir for a short gain before the two-minute warning, bringing on Tyler Bass. His 38-yard field goal, his fourth of the game, stretched the advantage to 33-23 with 1:56 left.
Las Vegas tried to chip away at Buffalo’s lead early in the fourth quarter but settled for a field goal to cap a 15-play drive. The Raiders had first-and-goal at the 2-yard line but lost yardage and settled for three points to trail 23-16. They then forced the Bills to punt on the next possession.
Ashton Jeanty was stopped for a 3-yard loss by Greg Gaines. Cousins missed a wide-open Bowers and forced a pass to Cody White in tight coverage on third down, leading to Matt Gay’s third field goal, a 23-yarder, to end the 15-play drive.
Allen found Coleman over the middle for a 12-yard touchdown to extend the Bills’ lead to 10 points in the third quarter. The unorthodox shovel pass came after Allen escaped defenders and moved to the left of the line of scrimmage on a third-down play, making it 23-13 with 6:22 left in the third.
Jeanty, who entered the week hobbled by foot and ankle soreness, had a long gain of 8 yards and finished with 10 carries for 22 yards, including his first rushing touchdown of the season in the first quarter. He also caught four passes for 36 yards.
With 15 seconds left in the first half, the Bills’ C.J. Gardner-Johnson was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct. Replays appeared to show him hovering near the line of scrimmage and spitting toward Bowers’ feet.
–Field Level Media
