APWhat we learned during a thrilling 38-35 Bills victory against the Raiders:
1. The Bills offense — especially their offensive line — is no long a weakness. Buffalo trailed 21-3 at halftime, but came back with five touchdowns on five possessions in second half. They hit two fourth down plays on the winning drive, including a six-yard score to David Nelson with 14 seconds left.
2. Buffalo pulled off the comeback largely by controlling Oakland’s vaunted defensive line in the second half. Bills outgained Oakland 217-131 on the ground despite only 25 rushing attempts. Fred Jackson racked up 140 yards from scrimmage, going toe-to-toe with Darren McFadden.
3. Oakland found a playmaker in rookie Denarius Moore. The rookie caught five passes for 146 yards and a score. He’s incredible on jump balls. Unfortunately, he couldn’t pull in Jason Campbell’s hail mary to end the game.
4. Communication in the secondary and penalties were issues for Oakland once again. They let Nelson get wide open on the winning score. A defensive holding penalty directly set up Buffalo’s second to last touchdown.
5. Stevie Johnson limped off the field late after appearing to aggravate his groin injury. He caught eight passes for 96 yards and a score before leaving. Buffalo has plenty of receiving options despite the Lee Evans trade. They’ve scored 79 points in two weeks.
6. This game will hurt in Oakland for a while, but both of these teams have enough going for them to stay relevant this season a long time. Buffalo is 2-0 against the AFC West.
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The Toronto Bills are 2-0.
Raiders D was awful, but I think they were hosed on a lot of calls. Buffalo didnt get called for one OLine holding penalty. That just isnt right. Regardless, the Raiders D has problems.
Reffing was a joke – every possession in second half had a penalty-extending drive called against the Raiders D. Some of those were penalties, some were not. The Bills needed every advantage to win and they got it despite a lackluster performance by the Raiders D.
Fitzpatrick = The new “Pay Tha’ MAN!”
Buffalo is my new favorite team. They’re exciting and they’re a team on the rise. Besides, my kid loves buffalo ever since our trip to South Dakota.
I wouldn’t crown them quite yet. KC and Oakland are exactly barometers of the NFL’s elite. Buffalo’s defense is trash and once they start playing upper echelon teams they will become exposed.
That offense though should keep games interesting and fun to watch. A couple of additions on defense via the draft next spring and we might have a Detroit East on our hands. Same team development plan it feels like.
Hats off to the Bills, they showed some real grit today.
The Raiders gave it their best, I’m surprised they had that much gas in the tank, having to travel across the country on a short week, for an early game.
The Bills won, but the Raiders “ain’t the Chiefs”, that’s for sure.
Tommy Kelly “we ain’t the Chiefs”
Like it matters.
all we need now is a playmaking safety
It’s pretty obvious Sanchez is the 3rd or 4th best QB in the AFC East.
Good for Buffalo that was a very nice win today. Unfortunatly for them this fairy tale start is going to be over next week when they play the Pats. Ill def be rooting for Buffalo to pull off the upset though.
very impressive
This game was incredible. Both teams are heading in the right directions finally. Jason Campbell had a very good game, Ryan Fitzpatrick had another good game. Both defense’s didn’t do much of anything in the pass game.
i am sooooo glad the dick jauron/marv levy era is over:-) at least there is hope that the bills are heading in the right direction now…i’d love to see 9-7 and buid off of that for next year…..go bills!
You forgot to mention how Buffalo controlled all of those BS flags. Professional football as we know it is dead.
Cool! Kick your heals up and shout!!
Game wasn’t on in my network, but why didn’t the bills ride Run DMC in the 2nd half like they did in the 1st half?
Raiders I mean obviously
But they will lose to the Jets anyway
But it is the same old Mike Carey screw the Raiders job….Commisioner Goodell must have bet his slush fund on the Bills….
F the bills raiders D always does this when the lead is tied or close!!!
Fitpatrick reminding me of Brees. Slow start to career but now the light has come on. In complete control of the offense with decisive, accurate throws in the face of pressure.
Trent Edwards is so pissed
Unfortunately the last time it wasn’t the same old Bills was 2008 when they started 5-1, including a stirring comeback against the Raiders, and then it turned out they were the same old Bills.
Next week against the Patriots will go a long way towards showing what kind of team Buffalo has this year.
New uniforms always do the trick.
um.. none of this is relevant when tebow just went in the game as a WR.. 15 articles to follow.. currently the pft guys are just to giddy to get it up on the site
GO BILLS!!!!!
It is nice to see, but it was against the NFC West both times, Raiders came across the country on a short week without their two top receivers. KC is looking like the worst team in the NFL.
But..no one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills!!!
West coast teams go 0-3 for the 1:00 games with 2 of them losing at the end … easy money.
I can’t believe we stole a 4th round pick from the Ravens for Lee Evans.
FJ2K?
A very exciting game. Both teams played hard.
Same ol’ Raiders though.
The Bills did a good job today. They reminded me alot of the patriots offense. Oakland has a great D-line but they made them a non factor by doing alot of dink and dunk underneath and quick passes. Saying that the Raiders lost the game. They missed too many tackles and had two costly penalties in the secondary in the Red zone that led to 2 Bills touchdowns
That fumble overshadowed another big game for McFadden..penalties cost us the game. On to gang green next week…and Sanchez looked awful today.
Raiders taking some steps, but the real test is coming in the home opener. Hoping we show the same grit the Bills did today v. J-E-T-S.
Blame the refs? What a Pee wee football excuse, I wonder how many alls they didn’t make. I saw the game. Those refs kept it in their pocket the first half then were probably treated with how many calls they missed.
Quit crying raider fans!!!!!! That hail mary pass the Bills d-lineman was tackle! Should have been a flag for holding!!! Look at the tape, and since when do they pick the flag up on a defensive pass interference????
The Bills may be brought back to earth by the Pats next week but wow, what a game!
Raiders and Chiefs may be starting to realize their schedule isn’t including the NFC West this time around.
Not the same old Bills, but it IS the same old Bresnahan defense. He sucked before and he sucks now.
I’m gonna have a long year….
Man I’m pissed…the Raiders blew a 21-3 lead at half…they give up over 450 yds O ….ABSOLUTELY no ” PRESSURE” on Kirkpatrick….and to boot Campbell and the passing game was revived…..They give up a wide open game winning TD..(good play design)….they’re “D” should be sick on the plan ride home……URRRRRRR !!
Same old raiders fans….run ur mouth before the game and complain and find excuses after….its to cover ur asses for all the talking u did prior….it was a great offensive game and crappy defensive….someone had to win……
Oh and BTW, Buffalo is not a team that gts calls in their favor…
We don’t get extra special attention….some teams do, not us….
ruffbufffire says: Sep 18, 2011 5:39 PM
Quit crying raider fans!!!!!! That hail mary pass the Bills d-lineman was tackle! Should have been a flag for holding!!! Look at the tape, and since when do they pick the flag up on a defensive pass interference????
When it isn’t a PI. Wimbley got taken down also. Look at the tape. Refs weren’t to blame for this one, though. Buffalo got whipped in the first half, but came back hard. The Raiders still haven’t learned how to handle success.
it’s always good for the NFL when the Bills and Browns show signs of life–BAL gets done by TEN?!? all for the better!
Image losing an NFL game and having to fly back to Oakland.
Man this one stings. damn thrilling game though. major props to the Bills. they took advantage of the penalties and crappy pass defense and Fitz was clutch in the end.
ugh, discipline guys, so frustrating. and it gets no easier for my boys. Silver(and black) lining on this dark cloud is that we may have found a good one in D. Moore; awesome TD catch.
congrats Bills fans, exciting game.
go raiders!
Can’t you guys just take the loss with some grace? Both teams played well Bills were just better today.
a win is a win no doubt……..but let’s be real bill fans …..we handed you the freaken.game period…. we didn’t play 60 mins…(2nd half was a disaster)..this one stings….but I truly believe we’ll grow from this one…….congrats though !!
I love to see all these raider fans complain. You LOST! fair and square. you guys lost the game yourself. fitz tore you a new one. we won. get over it. go bills
Ryan Fitzpatrick: 7th round pick
Stevie Johnson: 7th round pick
David Nelson: UDFA
Fred Jackson: UDFA
Donald Jones: UDFA
Scott Chandler: Waiver pick up
These guys have a chip on their shoulder and it’s amazing what they’re doing. 5 2nd half drives and 5 2nd half touchdowns! Hats off to Chan Gailey, it’s remarkable what he’s getting out of these guys.
No, they’re not the same old Bills! Welcome back, Buffalo! It’s a tough division and they’ve still got a fight ahead of them, but Chan has them on a good path.
@savannahrose44 …
Are you actually telling Raiders fans to take their loss with grace? Haven’t seen you congratulating your team’s opponent on their win–the way I congratulated the Ravens on multiple threads last week. But it’s easy to talk a good game, isn’t it? And after the vicious, dirty hits your players put on my QB, don’t you ever again speak to me about being “shamed.”
@ Deb
Please… your own man leg whipped our player causing him to fall into your QB and we are the ones that made dirty hits? My team lost today badly but you don’t see me crying pissing and moaning about it.
@savannahrose44 …
I didn’t cry, piss, or moan when my team lost last week. But I did congratulate the winner. It’s called class. Didn’t expect you to get it. No one leg-whipped your player on the play that took Roethlisberger out of the game for a series … and you know it.
@ Deb
Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. But yes he did leg whip (it was on camera…he got beat so he stuck out his leg to trip our man up…what else is leg whipping?) and by all rights it should have drawn a penalty (though I think the refs let it go by virtue of the fact that your QB was hurt due to the ill advised actions of his own lineman). As should have the late hit made out of bounds on GoldenTate. At least admit when your team does something wrong. But I forgot the Steelers never do anything wrong…
But if it will make you feel better… congrats on the win over a beat up rebuilding team.
@savannahrose44 …
Nope, I don’t work that way. Have called out the Steelers many many times. Spent most of last week calling them out for going in overconfident then making ridiculous excuses later. The truth is I was only able to watch the fourth quarter of today’s game. The replay I saw of that hit didn’t include the line action; it looked like the Seahawk just dove for Ben’s knee. When you mentioned the leg whip, I figured it was on another play. Told you before I’m a realist, so I’d never assume it couldn’t happen.
No … don’t need congrats. We should have won this game decisively. The two teams weren’t equally matched. Was just giving you a hard time because of the snippy comments you’ve posted about my team.
@ Deb
No worries…sorry if I came off “snippy” but what is football without a little rivalry? Generally when my team loses a game I just hang my head in shame for a few days then get back out there and root for them the following week regardless of how horrible they play, but then everyone handles a loss differently. Your team played well today mine didn’t but then they never really do traveling east. Until next time we meet good luck to you and yours I honestly hope your QB was not seriously injured it does no one in the league any good to see a starter fall.
Thank you, savannahrose44. I’m the same way when Pittsburgh loses as long as they’ve done their best–which they didn’t last week
But I love them win or lose. The Seahawks are rebuilding and it will be interesting to see what Carroll does with them. I will miss Hasselbeck, though; he was always a favorite of mine. Good luck to your guys as well.
As bad as the Raiders played in the 2nd half……(IMAO) the McFadden fumble was “HUGE”…it totally changed the game….the raiders were driving in what look to be scoring drive which I believe would have knocked the wind out of the Bills for good…and when the recovered the fumble they made us pay with “7″…it seem to snow ball from there……Our “D” was truly disapppointing today…..