Allen, Bills Trounce Raiders, 38-10

The Las Vegas Raiders (1-1) came into Orchard Park today the prohibitive underdogs, but after being out-coached and out-played, they left embarrassed.

ORCHARD PARK, NY.--The Las Vegas Raiders didn’t have another second-half comeback in them, and they were embarrassed.

The Silver and Black, who rallied to beat the Denver Broncos last Sunday in the Mile High City, scored the first touchdown of the game but then were blown out by quarterback Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, 38-10, on Sunday at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y.

Allen, who struggled on Monday night when the Bills lost to the New York Jets, and completed 31-of-37 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns without an interception against the Raiders. After throwing 29 interceptions in the last two seasons, he had three more against the Jets, but was nearly perfect this time.

The Bills are 19-5 after a loss under Allen, who threw touchdown passes of two yards to tight end Dawson Knox, 11 yards to wide receiver Khalil Shakir, and two yards to wide receiver Gabe Davis.

The Bills, who also cored on a four-yard run by former Raider Latavius Murray and a one-yard-run by running back Damien Harris, are 23-4 when Allen does not have a turnover.

“I love feeling how I felt last week. I really do, because it makes the good feel that much better,” Allen said. “I take the bad with the good, I understand it, and I’m just trying to let it fuel me and use it to my benefit.”

 Buffalo controlled the ball for 40 minutes and four seconds to 19 minutes and 56 seconds for the Raiders, running 74 offensive plays to 39 for Las Vegas.

Allen did have a pass tipped by defensive end Maxx Crosby and intercepted by safety Roderick Teamer. However, Raiders nickel back Nate Hobbs was called for illegal use of hands, and the play was nullified, leading to Buffalo’s final touchdown on the run by Harris.

Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who led the comeback victory in the fourth quarter last week in his first game with the Raiders, completed 16-of-24 passes for 185 yards and a 16-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Davante Adams to open the scoring, but he did throw two interceptions.

Adams led the Raiders with six receptions for 84 yards and the score, but left the game in the final minutes after taking a hit to the head and possibly has a concussion. Wide receiver Jacobi Meyers, who led the Raiders with nine catches for 81 yards last week in Denver, missed this game because of a concussion.

“I thought we created some momentum at the beginning of the game, but momentum is just a word,” Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels said. “We need to play well, and coach well, for 60 minutes. We can’t just live off the momentum of a drive. We had five decent plays and then didn’t play very well the rest of the game.”

The Raiders had a chance to score a meaningless touchdown late in the game after Garoppolo hit wide receiver Hunter Renfrow for 23 yards. But running back Zamir White fumbled, and safety Taylor Rapp recovered for Buffalo with 2:19 left in the game.

Rookie wide receiver Tre Tucker led the Raiders with 34 yards rushing on one carry, a jet sweep, while White had 22 yards on four carries as All-Pro Josh Jacobs was stuffed for the second straight week with minus-two yards rushing on nine carries, but he did have five receptions for 51 yards.

Jacobs has only 46 yards on 28 carries in two games after leading the NFL in rushing last season.

“I don’t think we need to totally flush it, I think we need to address where we went wrong, and improve from there,” Jacobs said. “That’s the thing that makes it so frustrating for me is just the potential. You see flashes of how good we can really be.”

Running back James Cook led the Bills with 123 yards on 17 carries, in addition to catching four passes for 36 yards, as Buffalo rushed for 183 yards while out-gaining the Raiders with 450 total yards to 240 for Las Vegas, which has only 501 total yards in two games.

Wide receiver Stefon Diggs led the Bills with seven catches for 65 yards, Davis had six catches for 92 yards and the score, and rookie tight Dalton Kincaid, a native of Las Vegas, caught five balls for 63 yards.

Linebacker Robert Spillane led the Raiders with 14 tackles, including one for a loss, a sack, and a quarterback hit, while linebacker Divine Deablo had 10 tackles, one for a loss, a sack, and a quarterback hit.

Rookie cornerback Jakorian Bennett made nine stops, while Crosby and Hobbs each had seven tackles.

The Raiders return to Las Vegas to play their regular-season home opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers next Sunday night. However, they are right back on the road the following week for the third time in four games when they take on their AFC West rival, the Los Angeles Chargers, at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.

Then the Silver and Black get consecutive home games against the Green Bay and New England Patriots before returning to the road to take on the Chicago Bears in Week 6 and the Detroit Lions the following week.

However, before that, the Raiders must get their game on track at home against the Steelers. To do so, they must get Jacobs and the running game going, plus have Meyers and Adams healthy.

The Silver and Black return home to Las Vegas and Allegiant Stadium to play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Sept. 24, at 8:20 p.m. EDT/5:20 p.m. PDT.

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