Orchard Park, NY (Best E Casino) - Rian Lindell's 38-yard field goal as time expired led the Buffalo Bills to a 24-23 victory over the Oakland Raiders at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Following a punt, Buffalo got the final possession of the game as the team started the drive with the ball at its own 34 with 2:29 left and trailing by two points. Trent Edwards connected on passes of 11 and 16 yards before the two-minute warning to get the ball past midfield. Marshawn Lynch then rushed for 19 yards over the next four carries to set up Lindell's winning kick.

"The thing we did on the last drive is we switched over into a little bit more of an attack mode," said Edwards. "We weren't huddling as much and we were throwing a lot of passes so I think we were wearing down their offensive line a little bit. Sure enough, we were able to hit two underneath drive routes."

Edwards went 24-of-39 for 279 yards with one touchdown and one interception while Lynch finished with 83 yards on 23 carries with two touchdowns for the Bills (3-0), who are off to their first 3-0 start since the 1992 season.

"It was a big win for us and it certainly was a team effort," said Bills head coach Dick Jauron. "I thought, right off the get-go, that our defense played an outstanding football game. Our special teams did an outstanding job. Offensively we made the plays when we had to make plays."

JaMarcus Russell went just 9-for-19 with 156 yards, one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown while Michael Bush and Darren McFadden combined for 97 yards as each back carried the ball 14 times for the Raiders (1-2), who were looking for their fifth straight win against Buffalo.

"A very disappointing loss, especially the way we finished," said Oakland head coach Lane Kiffin. "I thought the players played extremely hard and made a number of plays. We got three turnovers out and gave up one... you usually win a lot of games that way. Unfortunately, we weren't able to finish it off in the fourth quarter."

Buffalo trailed, 16-7, to start the fourth quarter, but the team finally put together a long drive as a possession that spanned the third and fourth quarters ended in a touchdown. Starting with the ball at its own four-yard line, Buffalo engaged in a 16-play, 96-yard march down the field that ate up close to nine minutes of clock time and was capped on a three-yard run up the middle by Lynch to make it a 16-14 game with 7:59 to play.

However, Oakland responded quickly to again make it a two-score game. On 3rd- and-10 at the Oakland 16, Russell hit Johnnie Lee Higgins on a quick slant over the middle and he raced into the end zone on an 84-yard score for a 23-14 lead with 6:23 left.

The Bills, though, didn't roll over and die as the team quickly marched down the field to answer the Oakland score. The Bills used a quick seven-play drive that only took 2:20 of time and got into the end zone of a 14-yard touchdown reception by Roscoe Parrish to again make it a two-point game with 4:03 to play.

The defense did its job as Oakland was forced to punt after a three-and-out.

The Raiders got a 69-yard kickoff return from Higgins to start the game with excellent field position, but they only managed one first down and had to settle for a 23-yard field goal from Sebastian Janikowski a bit over two minutes in.

Oakland had excellent field position every time it got the ball in the first quarter, but was only able to put up three more points.

Starting with the ball at the Buffalo 42 after a 15-yard punt return from Higgins, Russell connected with Ashley Lelie for a 23-yard play down to the Buffalo 19, but the drive stalled there and Janikowski's 35-yard field goal with 31 seconds left in the first made it a 6-0 game.

The Bills got on the board in the second quarter thanks in large part to their defense. On a 3rd-and-10 play, Chris Kelsay knocked the ball loose when he sacked Russell and Paul Posluszny recovered at the Oakland 23. Three plays later, Lynch took the ball around the left end and stretched it over the pylon before being knocked out of bounds to give Buffalo a 7-6 lead with 10:30 to play in the first half.

The Raiders again had a short field to work with as Kalimba Edwards sacked Trent Edwards and caused a fumble that was recovered by Terdell Sands at the Buffalo 41. However, Oakland stalled at the Buffalo 11-yard and Janikowski's 32-yard field goal with 1:56 left in the first half gave the Raiders a 9-7 lead heading into the locker room.

Turnovers continued to hurt Buffalo in the second half as its third miscue of the game led to seven more points for Oakland. With the ball near the goal line after a good punt from Oakland, on 2nd-and-10 Edwards had a pass picked off by DeAngelo Hall at the 13-yard line. Buffalo asked for a review of the play as it appeared that Lee Evans had the ball as he hit the ground and had it stripped out of his hands by Hall, but the ruling on the field was upheld. Three plays later, Russell punched the ball into the end zone from a yard out for a 16-7 lead with 7:30 left in the third.

Game Notes

Oakland defensive back Gibril Wilson was ejected on Buffalo's second touchdown after he was called for a personal foul as he hit Lynch while he was on the ground...Lindell has made 42 consecutive field goals from inside of 40 yards...Josh Reed led the Buffalo receiving corps with six catches for 72 yards...Buffalo went 5-for-12 on third down while Oakland went just 2- for-12...Buffalo held the ball for almost nine more minutes than Oakland.