The Las Vegas Raiders can point to enough offensive evidence to make the next few weeks feel less bleak than the standings do. They can also point to a third straight loss, a defense that drew a C- grade, and a 33-30 defeat to Buffalo that left them exactly where they were before kickoff: competitive, but not winning.
That tension is the story at 3-3.
The Raiders lost to the Bills on Sunday, and time has not made their 3-0 start look any more impressive. Two of the teams they beat are still winless, and the other is 2-4. Meanwhile, the Raiders have now dropped three in a row ahead of a pivotal Week 7 matchup with the Rams.
What has held up is the offense.
Las Vegas is averaging 27.0 points per game, which ranks sixth in the NFL. That is a sharp change from 2025, when the Raiders averaged 14.3 points per game and finished last in the league. They have also already scored 155 points through six games, their highest total since 2022.
The production has not been empty, either. Against Buffalo, Michael Mayer posted a career-high 95 receiving yards, and Tre Tucker finished with five catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns. Tucker’s speed has been a calling card since the Raiders drafted him in 2023, and it showed up again in a game where the offense kept finding ways to move the ball.
Even so, the Raiders left plays on the field. They were 2-for-5 in the red zone, and head coach Klint Kubiak called that unacceptable, saying it starts with him. The Raiders also failed on a fourth-and-one after a false start penalty, another missed chance in a game decided by three points.
That was the frustrating part of Sunday: Las Vegas went toe-to-toe with Buffalo and still came away with nothing to show for it.
The Bills scored 33 points and finished with 103 rushing yards on 29 carries. The Raiders’ defense was graded a C-, and the pass rush has been described as disorganized. Kubiak said the Raiders were in the right defensive sets to stop the run, but they just weren’t good enough.
The numbers fit the eye test. The Raiders have now lost to the Chiefs and Bills by a combined six points, but narrow margins do not change the record. As the team has said, moral victories don’t exist in the NFL; the Raiders are as good as their 3-3 record.
That is why the next stretch matters so much. Las Vegas has shown enough on offense to suggest a workable foundation, and it has enough young pieces contributing to make the unit look like more than a short-term spike. But the defense has not matched it, and the team’s own reporting makes the standard clear: being close is no longer enough.
The Raiders’ next step is simple to describe and harder to execute. They need the offense that keeps clicking to stay on schedule, and they need the defense to stop turning competitive games into losses.