With Raiders victory at hand, blown coverage and huge penalty lead to defensive failure against Miami
PASS OFFENSE B
The Raiders were plenty explosive against one of the NFL’s top defenses as Derek Carr, playing with a groin strain, completed 21 of 34 passes for 336 yards including an 85-yard scoring pass to Nelson Agholor. Agholor caught five passes for 155 yards and also drew the 49-yard penalty on Byron Jones that seemingly put the Raiders in position to win the game. Darren Waller added five catches for 112 yards. Consistency was a problem, as a Raiders team that’s been pretty good on third down was 0-for-10 against the top third-down defense in the NFL. Bottom line is they did enough through the air to win even with settling for four field goals from the Dolphins 25 or better.
RUN OFFENSE: C
Josh Jacobs, who needed an in-game I.V.. because of an illness, gained 69 yards on 13 carries and had some good runs. Jalen Richard had 19 yards on two tries, including a 18-yard run on third-and-19 that helped set up a field goal. Devontae Booker converted the ensuing fourth-and-1. It was the only time all night the Raiders converted a third- or fourth down without help from a penalty. That’s not the sign of a team that’s running the ball well. The Raiders finished with 24 carries for 104 yards and their 4.3 average is better than they’ve done in recent weeks. Still, the Raiders lost their power running game after relying on it heavily Weeks 8 through 10 and its been a part of a downfall that saw their record go from 6-3 to 7-8.
PASS DEFENSE: F
Two plays create a failing grade. The biggest, of course, was a 34-yard pop fly prayer that Ryan Fitzpatrick threw to Mack Hollins from the 25-yard line with 19 seconds to go, which also included a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty penalty on Arden Key. The penalty was a no-doubter, too. As for the coverage, Damon Arnette allowed Hollins to run unimpeded to the left sideline and neither he nor Isaiah Johnson appeared to understand their roles in the scheme. The second play was routine flare to Myles Gaskin that went for a 59-yard touchdown pass from Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick was 9 of 13 for 182 yards and the touchdown in relief of Tua Tagovaiola. The Raiders actually played some solid defense at times but were brought down by the big mistakes.
RUN DEFENSE: C
It’s not like the Dolphins ran wild on the ground, but they did gain 130 yards on 25 carries and averaged 5.2 yards per attempt. Gaskin had a 24-yard run and Clayton Fejedelem ran 22 yards as a personal protector on a fake punt to help up the yardage. Missed tackles in the second half were costly against the run as well as against the pass.
SPECIAL TEAMS: C-plus
Hunter Renfrow’s 32-yard punt return helped set up the Raiders first touchdown, a short-field drive that ended with Carr’s 1-yard dive over the pile for a 7-0 lead. The Raiders fell hard for the Dolphins fake punt play, which came from the 50-yard line after MIami had initially run its offense on to the field. The Raiders defense stiffened, but the Miami converted the play into one of four field goals, this one from 39 yards. Daniel Carlson was 4-for-4 on field goal attempts, all from inside the 40, but somehow missed an extra point which ended up being the deciding point although there were other factors at work. A.J. Cole placed one punt inside the 20 and also had a touchback.
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