The Las Vegas Raiders fell short in a tight contest Sunday, dropping a 33-30 decision to the Buffalo Bills and extending their losing streak to three games.
Kirk Cousins completed 23 of 41 passes for 313 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. His passer rating for the afternoon finished at 86.7.
Through six games this season, the veteran quarterback has thrown for 1,582 yards, 14 touchdowns and five interceptions while posting a 98.0 rating. The Raiders opened the year 3-0 before the recent slide.
The loss came at home against a Bills team that improved to 5-1. Las Vegas stayed competitive throughout and scored 17 points in the fourth quarter, but Buffalo pulled away late.
Cousins addressed the team’s approach after the defeat.
“All I know to do is go back to work, to have candid conversations on Monday that make us better as a football team, to have your process, the habits that get you ready to play well, and then to go through that process to not change anything when you’re winning, to not change too much when you’re losing,” Cousins said.
“I think the only part you change is when you go back and see where we got to be better, and you emphasize that during the week. But we just got to go back to work and put the work in and expect that if you do that, the breaks will fall your way.”
The Raiders have now lost consecutive games by three points after also falling 30-27 to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4.Offensively, Las Vegas generated 378 total yards. The passing attack carried much of the load with the run game providing limited support.
Tre Tucker caught five passes for 97 yards and both of Cousins’ touchdown throws, including scores of 11 and 44 yards. Michael Mayer added seven receptions for a career-high 95 yards, while Brock Bowers finished with four catches for 70 yards.
Cousins discussed the receiving corps’ contributions.
“It’s about taking advantage of the opportunities you do have,” he said. “I felt like I kind of hitched the tray in the red zone today. Just left it a little outside and ended up being incomplete, and that’s one where you want to put it right on him and make it easy for him.
“At times, you’re just going where your reads are taking you, and if that’s the back, if that’s the tight end, so be it. But we definitely want to find explosives in the pass game, and if we’re finding those, I don’t get too caught up in who it’s going to because you never know on the next play where it might go.”
The Raiders converted just two of five red-zone trips. Buffalo went three for five in the same area, a margin that proved decisive in the final score.
Cousins pointed to several missed chances that kept the team from closing the game.
“There’s no doubt that that’s what it is,” he said. “We have to find ways to close. You have to find the inches in the fourth quarter; you can’t go out on the second-to-last possession and throw three incompletions. You can’t throw an interception in the third quarter that gives them a short field, and they get a touchdown off of it [and] you can’t go two for five in the red zone. Third and goal, we have to come away with those four-point plays and get the touchdown, not kick the field goal.
“Those are all the plays throughout the game that you look back on and say it didn’t give us a chance to win. It’s just about making plays. We have to make plays, be smart, and manage the game well. If you do that, you’d like to think that you give yourself a chance to close it out in the fourth quarter.”
Las Vegas ranks 31st in the league in rushing yards per game at 79.2. The team’s overall scoring average sits at 27.0 points, tied for seventh.
In the AFC West, the Raiders are 3-3 and trail the undefeated Chiefs and the 4-2 Broncos. They host the Los Angeles Rams next Sunday.
