Klint Kubiak did not hide behind a close score. After the Las Vegas Raiders lost 33-30 to the Buffalo Bills at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, October 18, their third defeat in a row, the head coach said his team “did not close the game” and made clear that a competitive performance earns nothing on its own.
“We’re not satisfied with any moral victories,” Kubiak said in his postgame news conference. The loss dropped Las Vegas to 3-3, a week after a 28-point defeat at New England, and it came in a game the Raiders tied at 23 with eight minutes left.
Final. #BUFvsLV pic.twitter.com/Kmu06eow0A
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) October 18, 2026
Three moments Kubiak singled out
The first came right after halftime. The game was level at 13, but the Raiders opened the third quarter with three straight incompletions, and Buffalo answered with a long field-goal drive. Kubiak said one stalled series does not decide a game, but that it drained the momentum his team had carried into the break. It fits a pattern: Las Vegas has now been outscored by 26 points in third quarters this season.
The second was the red zone. The Raiders scored touchdowns on only two of five trips inside the Buffalo 20, and the costliest came early in the fourth quarter, when a 15-play march reached the 1 and produced only a 23-yard Matt Gay field goal after Mike Washington Jr. and Ashton Jeanty were both stopped short and a third-down pass fell incomplete. Kubiak called that red-zone rate unacceptable and said the responsibility begins with him.
The third was the turnover column. Kirk Cousins threw the game’s only interception in the third quarter, and Josh Allen turned it into the touchdown pass that put Buffalo ahead by 10. Maxx Crosby noted afterward that the defense, which forced takeaways regularly early in the season, has stopped doing so, and he put that on himself as a leader.
What went right
The passing game gave Kubiak something to build on. Cousins threw for 313 yards and two touchdowns, both to Tre Tucker, the second a 44-yard score with 1:32 left. Michael Mayer set a career high with 95 receiving yards and Brock Bowers added 70. The onside kick that followed went to Buffalo, and the Bills ran out the clock.
Kubiak would not talk about the season as a whole. Asked how the Raiders end the losing streak, he said the only thing that matters is the next game.
What comes next
That next game is against the Los Angeles Rams at Allegiant Stadium, with kickoff at 4:25 p.m. EDT next Sunday, October 25 (Game Center). The Rams also arrive off a one-score defeat, 18-16 at Arizona. The full box score from the Bills game is in the Game Center.
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