Las Vegas Planned to Keep Josh Allen in the Pocket. He Beat the Raiders From It Anyway, 33-30

Las Vegas had a plan for Josh Allen, and for one line of the box score, the plan worked perfectly. The Buffalo Bills closed their two-game West Coast trip with a 33-30 win over the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday in Week 6, according to BuffaloBills.com, and the Raiders’ central idea — keep Allen in the pocket after he rushed for 121 yards the week before, the second-highest rushing total of his career — held him to a single rushing yard. One. And Buffalo won anyway, because the version of Allen who beat Las Vegas was the one standing still, according to the advanced-stats breakdown published Tuesday by BuffaloBills.com.

The headline line was clean and corroborated. Allen completed 23 of 33 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, according to Reuters’ game recap, which also had James Cook rushing for 95 yards and the go-ahead touchdown as Buffalo improved to 5-1. The Democrat and Chronicle’s stats review put the same shape on it: Allen’s 23-of-33, 255-yard, two-touchdown, no-interception day, a touchdown pass to Keon Coleman that tied Jim Kelly’s franchise record at 258 career touchdown passes including the playoffs, and a Bills team that did not turn the ball over once after giving it away nine times in its previous three games. Previously’s own game-night account of Buffalo’s 33-30 win at Allegiant tells the back-and-forth story; this is the story underneath it.

The defense Buffalo did not expect

Start with the admission, because it explains the rest. Allen and head coach Joe Brady both acknowledged that the defense they saw from Las Vegas differed from the one they had game-planned for, according to BuffaloBills.com. The Raiders’ priority was unmistakable: after Allen’s 121-yard rushing day the previous week, keeping him contained was the main objective, and the 1 rushing yard says the containment itself worked. What it could not do was stop him from playing quarterback. Allen took what the defense gave him, protected the ball — no turnovers on the day — and let his receivers do the running for him, per BuffaloBills.com.

Zone coverage was supposed to be the answer. It was his best split.

Here is the number that should bother the Raiders’ staff. Out of Allen’s 33 passing attempts, 19 came against zone coverage, and he completed 14 of them for 182 yards — including both of his touchdown passes, according to BuffaloBills.com’s advanced-stats review. Read that again: more than half his attempts and more than 70 percent of his passing yardage came against the coverage structure Las Vegas leaned on most. The underneath throws were the mechanism. BuffaloBills.com notes that throwing underneath helped Allen keep the ball out of harm’s way, taking smaller chunks and letting his playmakers work — and work they did, to the tune of 175 yards after the catch, the second most in the league in Week 6.

That is the quiet story of this Bills offense when it is right. The highlight version of Allen is the hurdle and the 60-yard bomb; the winning version, on this Sunday, was a quarterback content to complete the five-yard throw and watch it become fifteen. Las Vegas took away the spectacular and got beaten by the patient.

The legs showed up anyway — just pointed sideways

Contain a runner and you have not necessarily contained a scrambler. On scramble-drill plays — broken plays where Allen used his legs to extend the passing play rather than run — he went 3-of-5 for 63 yards, his most in a game this season, along with a touchdown, according to BuffaloBills.com. Reuters’ account captured the emblematic snap: Allen appearing headed for a sack in the third quarter before escaping pressure to flip a 12-yard touchdown pass to Keon Coleman, the record-tying score. The Raiders’ rush did its job right up until the moment the job changed. Allen’s legs produced almost nothing in the rushing column and decided the game’s biggest passing play anyway.

The supporting cast, in the numbers

BuffaloBills.com’s review spreads the credit around. Cook’s 95 yards on 22 carries — his fifth straight game with at least 75 rushing yards — came with a pronounced lean: 13 carries to the right side for 69 yards, with 18 rushing yards over expected on that side, 62 yards after contact in total, and three explosive carries of 10-plus yards, per the team site. On defense, cornerback Christian Benford followed tight end Brock Bowers on 19 coverage matchups — his previous career high was eight — and Bowers caught just two passes for 23 yards on five targets with Benford on him, all into tight windows, according to BuffaloBills.com. Linebacker Terrel Bernard, meanwhile, allowed one reception in 27 coverage snaps, did not miss a tackle, and led the team with nine tackles, while Las Vegas averaged 2.9 yards per carry with Bernard on the field against the run versus 5.0 with him off it.

None of it made the finish comfortable. Reuters detailed the late chaos: Kirk Cousins threw for 313 yards and two touchdowns for Las Vegas, both to Tre Tucker, the second a 44-yard diving grab with 92 seconds left that cut it to 33-30 before Buffalo recovered the onside kick. But the Bills head into their bye at 5-1, with their quarterback having just demonstrated the most useful skill a contender’s quarterback can show: winning the game the opponent’s plan forced him to play. For more, see Previously’s Sports front and the Raiders team hub.