NFL Power Rankings, Week 5: Cowboys free-falling, Bills stay perfect

In Week 1, the Las Vegas Raiders beat the Carolina Panthers 34-30. They followed that up with a 34-24 win in Week 2 against the New Orleans Saints, and were one of the biggest surprise teams in the NFL. Since going for 34 in back-to-back games, the Raiders haven’t won and they’ve put up 20 in a Week 3 loss to the New England Patriots and 23 this past weekend against the Buffalo Bills.

Clearly, they need to put up at least 30 to win as they’re struggling to slow opposing offenses down in the first quarter of the season. This week, that was clearly the case as they went down 30-23 to Buffalo but they did all they could to make this one close.

Buffalo had taken over late in the game with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and they were up 30-16 — which had to be frustrating for the Raiders who entered the final 15 minutes with a lead 17-16. They scored with less than 1:30 to go as Derek Carr hit Nelson Agholor for his second touchdown pass but they were unable to recover the onside kick.

This allowed Buffalo to run out the clock and now Jon Gruden and the Raiders are 2-2. They’re still proving to be a competitive team and with the extra Wild Card spot, they shouldn’t be counted out just yet.