Raiders glaring deficiencies exposed in 35-13 dismantling in Miami

The Raiders were in Miami for the second season in a row to play the Dolphins. They had vengeance on their mind after the Dolphins beat them badly in Miami 34-14. Losing by an almost identical score, only a bit worse, was not what they were hoping for.

The Raiders were dominated on both sides of the ball in this game. And it was at the hands of a team which on paper, they look to match up well with, and even have a slight advantage. But the game isn't played on paper, its played on the field. That's where the Raiders deficiencies went from questionable to confirmed.

Despite the Dolphins taking their opening drive for a touchdown, the first half was pretty competitive. The Raiders would score a touchdown of their own on a 64 yard touchdown catch by Mike Goodson. They would also hold the Dolphins without another score the rest of the first half while adding a field goal to take a 10-7 halftime lead.

In the second half, the story changed dramatically. On the Dolphins' second possession, they would drive and score on a 23 yard Reggie Bush touchdown run. The next Dolphins drive saw Bush run for a 65 yard touchdown run which meant on Bush's last three carries, he had 90 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

With the Raiders unable to mount any kind of ground game what so ever, the game was pretty much over already with the Dolphins up 21-10. But the Dolphins would add two more touchdowns on the day with the Raiders defense clearly exhausted.

The Raiders had several chances to score touchdowns to try and keep pace but they couldn't punch it in. They made two trips into the red zone and came away with two field goals. Their first trip had them at first and goal at the 7-yard line but three straight incompletions later, Janikowski was called onto the field.

Darren McFadden struggled for a second straight week. He averaged two yards per carry in this game after averaging 2.1 yards per carry last week.

Carson Palmer had one interception but it was after the game was out of reach and the Raiders were in desperation mode trying to put at least one more touchdown on the board.

On the other side of the ball, the Raiders were beaten handly. Bush had 172 yards on the ground and he and backup running back Lamar Miller together averaged 6.6 yards per carry. Also for the second week, the defense could muster just one sack while giving up nine catches for 111 yards to receiver Brian Hartline.

The Raiders have now fallen into an 0-2 hole to start the season with some tough road ahead. Their next three games at against the Steelers, Broncos (at Denver), and another East Coast trip to play the Atlanta Falcons. If the first two weeks are any indication, they will be 0-5 after that stint.

Box Score

Oakland Raiders (0-1-0) Miami Dolphins (0-1-0)

Passing CP/AT YDS TD INT

C. Palmer 24/48 373 1 1

Rushing ATT YDS TD LG

D. McFadden 11 22 0 4

C. Palmer 2 7 0 7

M. Goodson 1 -6 0 -6

Receiving REC YDS TD LG

B. Myers 6 86 0 21

M. Goodson 3 83 1 64T

D. Moore 3 67 0 31

D. Heyward-Bey 4 41 0 19

D. Ausberry 1 31 0 31

D. McFadden 2 19 0 13

R. Streater 2 19 0 13

M. Reece 2 17 0 14

D. Hagan 1 10 0 10

Fumbles FUM LOST REC YDS

S. Wisniewski 1 0 0 -5

C. Palmer 0 0 1 0

Kicking FG LG XP PTS

S. Janikowski 2/2 27 1/1 7

Punting NO AVG I20 LG

S. Lechler 9 35.2 1 60

Kickoff Returns NO AVG TD LG

M. Goodson 2 20 0 25

C. Francies 1 13 0 13

Punt Returns NO AVG TD LG

P. Adams 5 11 0 47

Defense T-A SCK INT FF

T. Branch 7-0 0.0 0 0

P. Wheeler 7-0 0.0 0 0

J. Hanson 6-0 0.0 0 0

M. Huff 4-0 0.0 0 0

T. Kelly 4-0 0.0 0 0

M. Shaughnessy 4-0 1.0 0 0

L. Houston 3-0 0.0 0 0

D. Bryant 2-0 0.0 0 0

M. Burris 2-0 0.0 0 0

P. Lee 2-0 0.0 0 0

R. McClain 2-0 0.0 0 0

S. Spencer 2-0 0.0 0 0

C. Ihenacho 1-0 0.0 0 0

R. Seymour 1-0 0.0 0 0

D. Tollefson 1-0 0.0 0 0

Dolphins

Passing CP/AT YDS TD INT

R. Tannehill 18/30 200 1 0

Rushing ATT YDS TD LG

R. Bush 26 172 2 65T

L. Miller 10 65 1 19

R. Tannehill 3 14 1 13

J. Lane 4 12 0 4

Receiving REC YDS TD LG

B. Hartline 9 111 0 21

D. Bess 3 43 0 21

R. Bush 3 25 0 25

A. Fasano 2 19 1 14T

C. Clay 1 2 0 2

Fumbles FUM LOST REC YDS

Kicking FG LG XP PTS

D. Carpenter 0/0 0 5/5 5

Punting NO AVG I20 LG

B. Fields 6 43.5 4 59

D. Carpenter 1 29.0 1 29

Kickoff Returns NO AVG TD LG

Punt Returns NO AVG TD LG

M. Thigpen 5 14 0 21

D. Bess 1 11 0 11

Defense T-A SCK INT FF

K. Dansby 7-1 0.0 0 0

K. Burnett 4-0 0.0 0 0

S. Smith 4-0 0.0 0 0

N. Carroll 3-1 0.0 0 0

C. Clemons 3-0 0.0 0 0

R. Jones 3-0 0.0 1 0

R. Marshall 3-0 0.0 0 0

K. Misi 3-0 0.0 0 0

R. Starks 2-0 0.0 0 0

J. Odrick 1-0 0.0 0 0

P. Soliai 1-0 0.0 0 0

C. Wake 1-0 0.0 0 0