Two AFC squads face off this week in Sin City, as the Las Vegas Raiders welcome Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills to town. The Bills are coming off a thrilling overtime victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night and have decided to stay on the West Coast this week, practicing on the campus of UC Irvine. As for the Raiders, they are looking to bounce back after being dominated by Drake Maye and the New England Patriots last Sunday, 45-17.
This matchup features two first-year head coaches in Joe Brady and Klint Kubiak. Their combined 59.2 points per game are the most in a rookie head-coaching matchup in the Super Bowl era (min. five games). Both teams are scoring and allowing 25+ points per game this season, so we could be in for a shootout this Sunday.
Allen is again an MVP favorite this year, as his 15 total touchdowns rank as the most in the NFL. In fact, there are 24 NFL teams that haven't even scored 15 total touchdowns yet. However, don't sleep on the veteran Kirk Cousins. He's thrown 12 touchdowns so far this season, which are tied for second-most in the NFL. We haven't seen a Raiders quarterback throw this many touchdowns through the first five games of a season since Jeff George threw 13 to begin the 1997 campaign.
Will the Bills build on their momentum, or will the Raiders find a way to out-score one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL? Follow along in the live blog below, as we break down this AFC matchup as it happens.
Date: Sunday, Oct. 18 | Time: 4:25 p.m. ET
Location: Allegiant Stadium (Paradise, Nevada)
TV: CBS | Stream: Paramount+
Follow: CBS Sports App
Odds: Bills -4.5, O/U 53.5 (via DraftKings Sportsbook)
Bills returner Ray Davis took the opening kickoff 40 yards to the Bills' 44-yard line, and then Josh Allen moved the offense 30 yards on nine plays to set up a Tyler Bass 44-yard field goal. A third-down sack by Quay Walker ended the drive.
Raiders QB Kirk Cousins (38) is older than Bills head coach Joe Brady (37)
Klint Kubiak vs. Joe Brady features the most combined team PPG (59.2) in a rookie head coaching matchup in the Super Bowl era (min. 5 games)
If you missed it, Bills head coach Joe Brady threatened James Cook's playing time after he fumbled twice during Monday night's victory against the Rams. Could we see more Ty Johnson and Ray Davis today? It's something to keep an eye on.
"Right now, we're putting the ball in harm's way," Brady said on Tuesday. "We know the way that we lose football games is we turn the ball over. Our two best players turned the ball over last night. James put the ball on the ground. Look, he's doing so many good things running the football. I don't want to lose sight of how great he's running the ball right now. But we're putting the ball on the ground, and it's negating all the positive."
Read:
The Raiders have the most receiving yards by tight ends (544) through five games since the 2019 Baltimore Ravens. They have the highest percentage of plays with 2+ TEs on the field (63.4%) through five games since 2011.
The Raiders are averaging 5.9 yards per play on the 131 plays where Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer are on the field. They are averaging 4.7 yards per play on 194 plays without their top two TEs on the field.
This Season:
BUF: 4-1 ATS, Over is 4-1
LV: 4-1 ATS, Over is 3-2
The Bills are 9-1 straight up and against the spread in their last 10 games against teams entering the matchup above .500
