James Cook III was the difference. He put up 142 total yards and a touchdown, a week after running for 121 against the Rams. A Raiders run defense that gave up 165 rushing yards in Foxborough was missing defensive tackle Tonka Hemingway, and it still had no answer for him. Buffalo was short-handed too. DJ Moore and Ed Oliver were both inactive, Dalton Kincaid left with a rib injury, and Bradley Chubb went out with his ribs before coming back in. With all that missing, Buffalo still scored in every quarter.
How the game went is easier to follow by quarter. Las Vegas opened with a 7-3 1st quarter and it was 13-13 at halftime, with Matt Gay's side kicking for 6 in the 2nd. Then the Bills scored 10 in the 3rd and the Raiders scored 0. That was the stretch that decided it, because the Raiders' 17-point 4th quarter only got them to within 3.
Brock Bowers was the matchup the preview said Buffalo's banged-up secondary had to plan around. The box score available doesn't give his full line. The 1 catch on record is a 15-yarder from Cousins late in the 3rd quarter, the only quarter Las Vegas didn't score. Darien Porter started at outside corner for the Raiders in place of Hezekiah Masses. Their secondary was also down safeties Tristin McCollum and Dalton Johnson, and Allen's 2 touchdown passes came against that group.
Buffalo's defense is still a problem. The Bills have now given up 30 or more for the 4th time in 6 games, after 31 to Detroit, 34 to the Rams and now 30 to a Raiders team that scored 17 at New England. They still won, on a Monday-to-Sunday turnaround, 2,000-plus miles from home, without their best interior defensive lineman. That says a lot about the offense and not much good about the defense.
Las Vegas has now lost 3 straight and is 3-3. The 3-0 start feels a long time ago, but this loss looked different from the 45-17 rout in New England. The offense moved the ball, and Cousins stayed in for all 4 quarters this time. One bad quarter and a running back they couldn't tackle cost them a game they were in at the end.