The joy of the 3-0 start for the Las Vegas Raiders is over. Klint Kubiak has seen his team lose its last three games against the Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills and they have fallen to .500.
The future — from a win-loss perspective — is not great either. The Raiders have the Rams, 49ers, Seahawks and Broncos coming up in four of the next five weeks. A game against the Jets in two weeks may be the only one where this team can pick up a win.
The 33-30 loss to the Bills and their supportive fans — even though the game was in Las Vegas — was actually a fairly good showing by the Raiders. The Bills remain one of the most explosive offensive teams in the league with Josh Allen at quarterback. The coaching change with Joe Brady replacing Sean McDermott was supposed to improve the team's defense and overall efficiency. It doesn't look like either of those things have happened. The Raiders learned that the Bills are who we thought they were (hat tip to the late Dennis Green.)
Kubiak may not want any part of moral victories and staying close to a team that will be playing postseason football in January. He wants to find a way to win the close games against high-quality teams, so there is no joy that comes from hanging with a top team in the NFL.
Kubiak's all or nothing philosophy is not helping Raiders
That may not be the best way of coaching. The Raiders had a chance to beat the Chiefs and the Bills, and that's significant. Rather than being downcast about his team's performance, he needs to find some positives to take away from the game. The Raiders are approaching the middle section of a very long season. There are many more weeks to go, and the Raiders have shown quite a bit of growth.
Some aspects still need to be celebrated even though the team has suffered two close losses (and one blowout). Kubiak is acting as if the Raiders were Super Bowl favorites at the start of the season and are failing to live up to expectations. After the game, he pointed to the Raiders' failure to come through in the Red Zone. They scored two touchdowns during their five trips inside their opponents' 20.
“That's unacceptable,” Kubiak said. “That's on me.”
This kind of single-minded demeanor is not helping his team or his players. Sean McVay is still looking for positives even though his Rams are 2-4 and playing nothing like the Super Bowl favorite they were at the start of the year. Kubiak needs to lighten up to a degree to get the most out of his players.
Raiders found a way to keep it close
The Raiders did have a chance to win the game as QB Kirk Cousins brought the team back in the fourth quarter. The Raiders went into the final 15 minutes trailing the Bills 23-13, but they fought back in the first seven minutes of the quarter to tie the score.
They went 75 yards in 15 plays before settling for Matt Gay's 23-yard field goal and followed that up with a 9-play, 91-yard drive that culminated with Cousins' 11-yard TD pass to Tre Tucker.
That 10-point surge woke up the Bills and they responded with 10 points of their own. Josh Allen was not about to accept the Raiders coming from behind and winning the game, and he alternated key plays with star RB James Cook on a 7-play, 66-yard drive that culminated with the running back's 3-yard TD run.
The Bills would also add a field goal and the Raiders were left with another 10-point deficit and just 1:56 remaining. Cousins hit Tucker with another TD pass, this time from 44 yards, and the Raiders had a chance with 1:32 left.
However, their onside kick failed to result in a Raider possession, and the Bills ended the game in victory formation.
Raiders needed to get the ball to Brock Bowers
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The Raiders have a game-changing tight end in Brock Bowers on their roster, and he has been slightly above average to this point in the season. Bowers caught 4 passes for 70 yards against the Bills, but he could have done more. He had been targeted 9 times in the game and if he had been able to catch 7 or 8 passes, the Raiders might have won the game.
Bowers remains the team's leading receiver for the season. He has caught 28 passes for 382 yards and 3 TDs. He has the size and athleticism to cause huge matchup problems for most opponents at 6-4 and 235 pounds, and the Raiders need to keep this in mind going forward.
Some of this is on Cousins and the rest is on Bowers himself. The third-year receiver from Georgia is coming off back-to-back Pro Bowl seasons in his first two years, but he is not on a similar pace this year. He must demand the football and realize that he is a star in the NFL. Bowers needs to get the ball more often.
That may be the only way the Raiders get back into the win column against the tougher opponents they will see in the coming weeks.