RAIDERS BILLS
1st Downs 10 25
Rushing 6 8
Passing 4 16
Penalty 0 1
3rd-Down Conversions 2-12 5-12
4th-Down Conversions 0-0 1-1
Punts-Average 6-50.8 5-47.6
Return Yards
Punts-Returns 3-36 2-9
Kickoffs-Returns 3-98 6-150
Int.-Returns 1-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 4-25 4-25
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-2
Time Of Pos. 25:33 34:27
Total Net Yards 247 378
Total Plays 50 72
Average Gain 4.9 5.3
Net Yards Rushing 98 116
Rushes 30 30
Avg. Per Rush 3.3 3.9
Net Yards Passing 149 262
Comp.-Att. 9-19 24-39
Yards Per Pass 7.5 6.2
Sacked-Yards Lost 1-7 3-17
Had Intercepted 0 1
Touchdowns 2 3
Rushing 1 2
Passing 1 1
Interceptions 0 0
Other 0 0
Extra Points 2-2 3-3
Passing 0-0 0-0
Field Goals 3-3 1-2
Red Zone Efficiency 1-4-25% 3-4-75%
Goal To Go Efficiency 1-2-50% 1-1-100%
Safeties 0 0
For the better part of three quarters Buffalo's execution was lacking. Dropped passes, penalties, fumbles lost, busted assignments and a missed field goal attempt were all part of the Bills performance. Fortunately they snapped out of it with just enough time left on the clock to pull out their second straight come from behind win as a 38-yard field goal from Rian Lindell lifted the Bills to a 24-23 walk off victory and their first 3-0 mark to start the season since 1992.
"I just jogged out and just trusted what I had done and the week I put in and good snap Ryan Neill, good hold Brian Moorman and it went through," said a relatively subdued Lindell.
"It was definitely a sweet win for us," said head coach Dick Jauron. "And it certainly was a team (win) offense, defense and special teams. Right off the get go you've got to say that our defense played an outstanding football game playing a team that had rushed for 300 yards a week ago. They broke a few short ones, they didn't get any big ones on us. They rushed for about 3.3 a carry. That's a pretty good day against what we thought was a very, very good and a little bit scary football team."
Trent Edwards and company finally came to life late in the third as the Bills mounted a methodical 15-play drive. Josh Reed and Marshawn Lynch accounted for 66 of the 96 yards gained on the march including the final three as Lynch pumped his way for his second touchdown of the afternoon to pull within two (16-14).
"We switched over into a little bit more of an attack mode is what we call it and we weren't huddling as much and we were throwing a lot of passes so I think we were wearing down their defensive line a little bit," said Edwards. "And they weren't bringing their pressure because I think they wanted to sit in coverage a little bit so they kind of settled down and we were able to hit some throws and move the ball down the field and got Marshawn in the end zone."
Buffalo appeared to have momentum, but a well-executed 3rd-and-10 pass from Russell to Johnnie Lee Higgins went 84 yards for a touchdown as the Raiders' receiver outraced the Bills secondary to the end zone to make it a two score game (23-14).
"That was a painful thing to watch on 3rd-and-11 have him split us like that," said Jauron. "After that we re-grouped and we knew we had more than six minutes and the one timeout so it had to happen relatively quickly, but we remained calm and we knew we had to get one score and we actually talked about which one was going to come first. They were very matter of fact in a lot of ways."
Oakland then curiously decided to stay conservative in their coverage allowing Edwards to complete passes underneath. It allowed Buffalo to drive all the way to the Raiders' 14-yard line. Operating out of the shotgun Edwards unloaded just as the pass pressure arrived and got enough on his throw to reach Roscoe Parrish who pulled it in for a 14-yard touchdown reception to make it a two-point game for the third time in the contest (23-21).
"I knew the leverage he had on the nickel DB there that he was just going to break out and I just trusted Roscoe to go out and get that for me," said Edwards.
"Trent did a good job of finding me downfield," said Parrish. "Out route. I just made the catch and made my way into the touchdown, basically."
Edwards finished the day 24-39 for 279 yards with a touchdown and interception and a passer rating of 81.
Buoyed by the offensive outburst, the defense promptly sent Oakland three-and-out giving Edwards one last possession. After consecutive completions to Josh Reed and Roscoe Parrish got the Bills into Oakland territory, the Bills then called on Lynch to pound it out on the ground killing clock and getting close enough for Lindell's end of the game field goal attempt.
"He is a great kicker so we don't worry too much," said Kawika Mitchell. "We didn't doubt him."
Buffalo's defense held the Bills in the game through the balance of the first half. Forced to defend short fields from the opening kickoff the Bills defense forced Oakland to settle for three Sebastian Janikowski field goals despite drive starts at the Buffalo 25, 42 and 40-yard lines.
The Bills' defenders also were instrumental in setting up the offense for their only points of the first half when Chris Kelsay sacked a scrambling JaMarcus Russell and forced a fumble. Paul Posluszny recovered at the Raiders' 23-yard line.
"They had the tight end on that side and I was lined up wider in a nine technique," said Kelsay. "The tight end went out to go up field on his pass route and saw the tackle was going to try to cut me so I just had to get my hands down and slipped around him. He did his job, but the quarterback held the ball and I came away with the sack. I really have to thank JaMarcus for that one I guess."
Two plays later Marshawn Lynch burst to the left edge and toed the sideline before making an acrobatic leap in which he tucked the ball around the end zone pylon for a 14-yard touchdown run to give the Bills their only lead of the game (7-6) early in the second quarter.
Buffalo's offense had trouble moving the football as the run game could not gain much on the ground and long down and distance situations put Trent Edwards under pressure. That pressure reached the breaking point on a 1st-and-10 from the Bills 46 when Edwards was sacked by Kalimba Edwards and fumbled. Terdell Sands recovered for Oakland at the Buffalo 41.
Again a field goal was all Oakland could manage as Janikowski put a 32-yard attempt through the uprights for a slim 9-7 edge.
The offense had one last possession in the half and drove down to the Oakland 31, but the drive was cut short when Lee Evans was stripped of the ball by Nnamdi Asomugha following a reception along the near sideline. It was ultimately ruled an interception.
"Give a lot of credit to the Oakland Raiders. They brought the pass rush and brought a ton of pressure in the first half that we really hadn't practiced for and it was just a great job defensively," said Edwards. "Their schemes were better than ours. I was feeling the brunt of that and even when I had protection there were times that I was too quick with my reads, I was too quick getting rid of the football and some of those sacks were coverage sacks and they just made more plays than us in the first half."
It appeared things were going to change for the better at the start of the second half when Edwards hit Evans for a 34-yard reception on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter. The Bills drove the ball to the 28-yard line where Marshawn Lynch was held to a one-yard gain on 3rd-and-4.
But Rian Lindell pushed a 46-yard field goal wide right preserving Oakland's two-point edge.
The game would remain scoreless until the middle of the third quarter when Evans had a reception ripped from his hands by DeAngelo Hall at the Buffalo 13-yard line. JaMarcus Russell finished off the drive himself taking a one-yard sneak into the end zone to put Oakland up by nine following the extra point (16-7).
But Buffalo managed to overcome their own miscues and a nine-point deficit to pull out the victory.
"We're going to get some quarters like that, but you have to stay mentally tough," said Donte Whitner. "That's the difference between this year's team and the past two years. There's nothing different with the physical and not much different with the personnel except for a couple of new acquisitions. It's the mental side of it. When things start getting hard we have the mental toughness to know we can still pull this thing off."
The Bills travel to St. Louis in Week Four to take on the Rams.
1 2 3 4 Total
Raiders 6 3 7 7 23
Bills 0 7 0 17 24
1ST QUARTER
2:20 Raiders FG Sebastian Janikowski 23 Yd (Oakland 3-0)
14:29 Raiders FG Sebastian Janikowski 35 Yd (Oakland 6-0)
2ND QUARTER
4:30 Bills TD Marshawn Lynch 14 Yd Run (Rian Lindell Kick) (Buffalo 7-6)
13:04 Raiders FG Sebastian Janikowski 32 Yd (Oakland 9-7)
3RD QUARTER
7:30 Raiders TD Jamarcus Russell 1 Yd Run (Sebastian Janikowski Kick) (Oakland 16-7)
4TH QUARTER
7:01 Bills TD Marshawn Lynch 3 Yd Run (Rian Lindell Kick) (Oakland 16-14)
8:37 Raiders TD Johnnie Lee Higgins 84 Yd Pass From Jamarcus Russell (Sebastian Janikowski Kick) (Oakland 23-14)
10:57 Bills TD Roscoe Parrish 14 Yd Pass From Trent Edwards (Rian Lindell Kick) (Oakland 23-21)
15:00 Bills FG Rian Lindell 38 Yd (Buffalo 24-23)
RUSHING
RAIDERS ATT YDS TD LG
Michael Bush 14 55 0 16
Darren McFadden 14 42 0 12
JaMarcus Russell 1 1 1 1
Justin Griffith 1 0 0 0
BILLS ATT YDS TD LG
Marshawn Lynch 23 83 2 14
Fred Jackson 5 24 0 10
Trent Edwards 2 9 0 5
PASSING
RAIDERS CP/AT YDS TD INT
JaMarcus Russell 9/19 156 1 0
BILLS CP/AT YDS TD INT
Trent Edwards 24/39 279 1 1
RECEIVING
RAIDERS REC YDS TD LG
Darren McFadden 3 6 0 7
Javon Walker 2 18 0 13
Johnnie Lee Higgins 1 84 1 84
Ashley Lelie 1 23 0 23
Justin Griffith 1 20 0 20
Michael Bush 1 5 0 5
BILLS REC YDS TD LG
Josh Reed 6 72 0 22
Lee Evans 4 65 0 34
Robert Royal 4 34 0 18
Marshawn Lynch 4 31 0 17
Roscoe Parrish 3 42 1 16
Darian Barnes 2 34 0 25
Fred Jackson 1 1 0 1
INTERCEPTIONS
RAIDERS INT YDS TD LG
DeAngelo Hall 1 0 0 0
BILLS INT YDS TD LG
PUNTING
RAIDERS NO AVG I20 LG
Shane Lechler 6 50.8 4 57
BILLS NO AVG I20 LG
Brian Moorman 5 47.6 1 62
PUNT RETURNS
RAIDERS NO AVG TD LG
Johnnie Lee Higgins 3 12.0 0 20
BILLS NO AVG TD LG
Roscoe Parrish 2 4.5 0 9
KICKOFF RETURNS
RAIDERS NO AVG TD LG
Johnnie Lee Higgins 3 32.7 0 69
BILLS NO AVG TD LG
Leodis McKelvin 5 27.4 0 56
Fred Jackson 1 13.0 0 13
KICKING
RAIDERS FG LNG XP
Sebastian Janikowski 3/3 23, 35, 32 2/2
BILLS FG LNG XP
Rian Lindell 1/2 (46), 38 3/3
FUMBLES
RAIDERS FUM LOST FRC
JaMarcus Russell 1 1 0
Nnamdi Asomugha 0 0 1
Kalimba Edwards 0 0 1
Kirk Morrison 0 0 1
Terdell Sands 0 0 0
Gibril Wilson 0 0 0
BILLS FUM LOST FRC
Trent Edwards 1 1 0
Lee Evans 1 1 0
Darian Barnes 1 0 0
Chris Kelsay 0 0 1
Paul Posluszny 0 0 0
DEFENSE
RAIDERS T A SCK YD
Kirk Morrison 10 1 0 0
Gibril Wilson 7 2 0 0
Ricky Brown 7 3 0 0
DeAngelo Hall 6 2 .5 1
Thomas Howard 6 2 0 0
Nnamdi Asomugha 5 1 0 0
Derrick Burgess 4 2 .5 1
Jay Richardson 4 2 0 0
Kalimba Edwards 3 0 1 7
Michael Huff 3 1 0 0
Tyvon Branch 3 1 0 0
Stanford Routt 3 1 0 0
Tommy Kelly 3 2 0 0
Gerard Warren 2 0 1 11
Terdell Sands 2 1 0 0
Fred Wakefield 2 1 0 0
BILLS T A SCK YD
Paul Posluszny 6 1 0 0
Marcus Stroud 6 2 0 0
Ko Simpson 6 3 0 0
Donte Whitner 5 1 0 0
Aaron Schobel 4 0 0 0
Kawika Mitchell 4 1 0 0
Kyle Williams 4 1 0 0
Keith Ellison 3 0 0 0
Ryan Denney 3 1 0 0
Spencer Johnson 3 2 0 0
Chris Kelsay 2 0 1 6
Jabari Greer 1 0 0 0
Terrence McGee 1 0 0 0
Ashton Youboty 1 0 0 0
Officials:
Attendance: 71,297
Time of game: NA
