Oakland Raiders Recap: Can’t Run, Can’t Stop the Run Against Dolphins

It's beginning to look a lot like 2003-2009. The Raiders completely melted down in the second half, being outscored 28-3 and losing 35-13 to the Miami Dolphins. Even more disconcerting, their run defense looked like the same old sieve it has been the last decade, allowing a total of two yards overall. 

On the flip side, Darren McFadden was completely ineffective again, running 11 times for 22 yards. The Raiders only amassed 23 yards on 13 carries.

The inability to slow down the run made life much easier for Ryan Tannehill, who picked on the combination of Joselio Hanson and Pat Lee to find Brian Hartline nine times for 111 yards. Most of those passes came on comeback or out routes that saw Hanson and Lee playing seven to nine yards off the receiver, making it easy to pitch and catch for Miami.

Earlier in the week, I targeted five keys to a Raider win. First, pressure Ryan Tannehill. The Raiders managed one sack in the second quarter by Matt Shaughnessy, but they were mostly unable to collapse the pocket consistently. That enabled Tannehill to go 18-of-30 for 200 yards and his first NFL touchdown.

Second, I thought the Raiders needed to win the turnover battle. As it turned out, they had one turnover and the Dolphins none, but that was not really a determining factor as the only turnover in the game came with the score 35-13. The reality was, the Raiders were simply outmanned in the second half.

Third, my feeling was that the Raiders needed to stretch the field. There were only a couple of deep shots, but Brandon Myers was able to get down the field from the tight end position, catching six passes for 86 yards.

The big play of the game was a 64-yard touchdown on a catch-and-run to Mike Goodson, but the Raiders' passing game was largely hindered because they had absolutely no running game to set it up with.



Fourth, stopping the run was paramount. Needless to say, the Raiders ...

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