Bills-Raiders Recap. The Good, Bad, and Ugly

The Bills beat the Raiders 33-30 in Las Vegas on Sunday and moved to 5-1 heading into the bye. Josh Allen tied Jim Kelly’s franchise record for touchdown passes, James Cook bounced back from the fumbles that nearly cost them the Rams game, and Buffalo didn’t give the ball away once after nine turnovers in three weeks. The win still came down to the final minute against a rebuilding team, and Dave and Greg spent the episode on that gap between the record book and the scoreboard.

They broke down the good, the bad, and the ugly on the latest 1st and 5, including:

• Allen’s record-tying flick and the toll those plays take
• Cook’s bounce-back and the way Buffalo finally used him
• A defense that still can’t get off the field
• The C.J. Gardner-Johnson ejection and what comes next
• Whether 5-1 is as good as it looks with the trade deadline coming

What Did Josh Allen’s Record Day Look Like?

Allen slipped a near-sack from Max Crosby in the third quarter and shot-put a 12-yard touchdown to Keon Coleman on his way to the turf. That tied Kelly’s record of 258 career touchdown passes and turned the pro-Buffalo crowd at Allegiant into an MVP chant. Greg’s bit for moments like that is the Old Spice bottle with Allen’s face on it, the scent that covers up the stink, because one highlight wipes away a lot of what goes wrong around him.

Allen threw for 255 yards and two scores and mostly took what the Raiders gave him. Greg’s worry runs the other way. Every time Allen escapes and improvises, he’s a hit away from an injury this team can’t absorb, and they keep asking him to do it.

Allen also burned two timeouts on the opening drive and called another later in the game. Whether the calls were slow or he didn’t like what he saw, the clock management keeps landing on the list of things Buffalo says it wants to clean up and hasn’t.

Is the James Cook Problem Behind Him?

Cook ran for 95 yards, caught three passes for 58 more, and didn’t put the ball on the ground once. A week after losing a fumble in overtime against the Rams, he carried it high and tight all afternoon, the harder way to run and the exact correction the moment called for.

Allen went looking for Cook out of the backfield early, and one checkdown turned into 26 yards when the Raiders lost track of him. Dave and Greg have been asking Buffalo to use him this way for two-plus years, the Pete Carmichael influence that made Alvin Kamara a receiving weapon in New Orleans. When the backs and tight ends catch passes, a defense has more to cover, and the whole offense gets harder to defend.

Cook’s three-yard touchdown with under five minutes left put Buffalo ahead for good. The two have called him a top-five back all season, and this game backed it up, clean and involved on both sides of the ball.

Why Can’t the Bills Defense Get Off the Field?

Buffalo did not sack Kirk Cousins once. He got the ball out in under three seconds all day while the corners sat seven to nine yards off the line on third down, and the first downs kept coming. Cousins finished with 313 yards and two touchdowns, Michael Mayer went for a career-high 95, Tre Tucker added 97 and both scores, and Brock Bowers chipped in 70. A 10-point lead turned into a one-score game because the defense couldn’t get a stop.

Greg keeps hearing the offseason promise that this defense would attack and dictate, and keeps watching the same soft zone from the McDermott years. Most of the heat went to Jim Leonhard. One red-zone snap left Damar Hamlin alone on Brock Bowers, a mismatch that falls on the play-caller. The broadcast caught Buffalo flashing personnel cards from the sideline, one coach signaling the grouping and another the coverage, which Greg called high-school stuff. His point under the joke was simple. If NFL defenders need a card to line up, the players can’t handle the system or the system asks too much.

Dave and Greg split on the 44-yard Tucker touchdown that pulled Las Vegas within three. Dave saw a perfect throw and catch, with Jalon Kilgore in position and beaten by placement. Greg was upset that a team down 10 with under two minutes and no timeouts still had a receiver running free behind the defense. To him, this is inexcusable.

Deone Walker also shined by tossing the Raiders’ center aside on one rep like he wasn’t there. His standout season continues. The biggest stop came early in the fourth, when Greg Gaines stuffed Ashton Jeanty at the goal line, and Davison Igbinosun broke up a Cousins pass in the end zone to hold Las Vegas to a field goal. Cole Bishop looked more comfortable, and Christian Benford had another steady game. The talent is on the roster. A stop when the game demands one is still missing.

What Happened With C.J. Gardner-Johnson?

Gardner-Johnson got ejected late in the first half for spitting at a Raiders player. The unsportsmanlike penalty pushed Las Vegas to the Buffalo 14 and set up a field goal as the half expired to tie it at 13, a self-inflicted swing in a tight game.

Dave and Greg want him gone, and not just for the spit. He hasn’t played well, he’s getting beat weekly, and the edge Buffalo signed him for stopped being worth the penalties. Greg would cut him outright. Dave pointed out the defense didn’t miss a beat once Jalon Kilgore replaced him, which makes the call easy on a one-year deal that isn’t working. Beane may have to eat the signing, the kind of move the old McDermott-run building probably never makes.

Is a Win Really a Win at 5-1?

Four of Buffalo’s five wins have come in games where it gave up 30 points. A win is a win, and 5-1 with two road wins out West is a good spot, but it only holds because the offense is near-perfect, and that covered a defense that can’t get stops against a rebuilding Raiders team with a first-year coach.

Dave and Greg don’t trust that formula against a real contender in January. The schedule has flattered them too. The Rams are reeling, and the Texans and Chargers have struggled, and Buffalo still hasn’t beaten a heavyweight. The margin is thin, the Patriots already hold the head-to-head tiebreaker in the division, and the Bills needed Khalil Shakir to fall on a Raiders onside kick to end it.

What Should the Bills Do Before the Trade Deadline?

The show wants Buffalo to use the bye and make a move, not sit on its hands until the deadline. The wish list starts on defense. Greg wants a cover corner for the bigger lift, while Dave argued safety is the more important hole and floated Derwin James, and both want Shaq Thompson active and on the field because Terrel Bernard keeps getting lost in coverage. A second receiver would help too, so the offense isn’t tied to DJ Moore’s health.

A trade only helps if the problem is talent, and Dave and Greg aren’t sure it is. If young players can’t process what Leonhard runs, more young players won’t fix it, and a veteran only helps if he picks up the scheme fast. Buffalo has two weeks to decide whether it’s scheme or personnel. These are Beane’s players and Beane’s hires, so the honest look starts with him.

Bills-Raiders: What Buffalo Needs to Fix During the Bye Week

Buffalo sits at 5-1 with the best quarterback in football and a defense that could sink the season if it stays like this. The bye lands at the right time, with Baltimore waiting on November 1 and no margin for error in the division. The Bills banked two tough road wins. Now they have two weeks to make sure the next shootout doesn’t get away.

Do you trust Brandon Beane to go get this defense real help before the deadline, or is this a problem that waits until the offseason?

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