Brooke Cersosimo’s takeaways:
Allen winning by land and sea. Another strong second half by the Bills sent them home with a second straight road victory. Josh Allen continued to show why he’s an MVP candidate, helping the Bills score 20 points over the final two quarters and taking care of the football throughout. Allen did a fantastic job staying calm and finding his targets with Maxx Crosby and the Raiders’ pass rush routinely keeping him in the pocket and preventing Allen from using his legs (he finished with 1 yard on five carries). There were few instances in which Allen escaped the pocket for a big play, but the Raiders paid when he did. On third-and-8 on the Raiders’ 12-yard line, Allen evaded several defenders, looked as if he was going to take off for the end zone, which prompted a handful of Vegas defenders to abandon their coverage assignments, to which Allen lobbed a floater to a wide-open Keon Coleman in the end zone. It was just another example of the Superman-like plays Allen displays on film every week and why the Bills are in pole position in the AFC East. Allen finished the day with 255 passing yards and two touchdowns, while James Cook rebounded from a two-fumble performance against the Rams and piled up 153 scrimmage yards and a touchdown on 25 touches. Joe Brady’s star player and offense, which ranked tops in scoring entering Week 6, is right where they need to be heading into the bye.
Raiders’ rally comes up short. A poor third quarter, in which Kirk Cousins threw the only interception of the game, led to the Raiders trailing by 10 twice in the second half. Both times, Cousins and Co. rallied to give themselves a chance. With just under two minutes remaining in the contest, it took two plays for Cousins to find the end zone, heaving a beauty 44 yards to Tre Tucker (his second score of the day) to bring Las Vegas within three after the ensuing Matt Gay extra point. The onside kick attempt failed though, and Klint Kubiak’s group suffered a third straight defeat. Vegas played much better than it did a week ago in New England, but it couldn’t overcome the offense’s inability to convert in the red zone (2 of 5), run the ball and get Brock Bowers going (more on that in a second). The red zone struggles were highlighted by a second-quarter play, when the Raiders committed their third penalty of the season on a QB sneak play with Connor Heyward taking the snap, this time on fourth-and-1. That mistake forced the first Raiders field goal of the afternoon. The Raiders’ rushing attack got off to a quickish start, as they leaned on Ashton Jeanty in their opening drive. He accounted for six touches (22 total yards) on the team’s first nine plays and scored his first rushing TD of the season on his 17th red zone carry. He slowly went away as the game progressed and was ultimately outgained by Mike Washington Jr. on fewer carries: Jeanty finished with 10 carries for 22 yards and the TD, and Washington had nine attempts for 43 yards to give the Raiders a putrid 65 total yards on the ground. Cousins was mostly solid again outside of the pick (23-of-41 passing for 313 yards, two TDs and an INT), but too many Raiders mistakes — some bigger than others — ultimately sunk them.
Benford bests Bowers. Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonard had a great game plan for Brock Bowers for much of Sunday’s game, putting cornerback Christian Benford, a 2022 sixth-round draft pick, against the all-world tight end in man coverage. That approach held Bowers without a reception until 4:49 remained in the third quarter, when he caught an 8-yard pass from Kirk Cousins. Per Next Gen Stats, Benford matched up against Bowers 19 times and limited him to two receptions on five targets (all tight windows, less than 1 yard of separation) for 23 yards as the nearest defender. Against all other receivers in the game, Benford allowed just one reception on three targets, an 11-yard touchdown to Tre Tucker. Bowers was most successful during a fourth-quarter drive in which the Bills’ defense played zone. Bowers found soft spots in the defense on back-to-back plays with receptions of 18 and 29 yards. On the next play, Benford was back on the two-time Pro Bowler and forced an incompletion near the goal line. It’s not often NFL cornerbacks dominate against elite pass catchers, but Benford did Sunday.
Next Gen Stats Insight for Bills-Raiders (via NFL Pro): Josh Allen completed 23 of 33 pass attempts for 255 yards and two touchdowns against the Raiders in Week 6. Much of that production came against zone coverage, as Allen completed 14 of 19 passes for 182 yards and both of his touchdowns when facing zone. When scrambling to pass, he completed 3 of 5 attempts for 63 yards, his most in a game this season, and a touchdown. He scrambled to run just once for 2 yards.
NFL Research: With two passing touchdowns in Week 6, Josh Allen recorded his 317th and 318th career offensive touchdowns, breaking a tie with Russell Wilson for second through 10 seasons in NFL history. Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (322) is the only player to have more offensive touchdowns through 10 seasons than Allen does just six games into his ninth career season.