The Miami Dolphins’ keys to victory against the Raiders

3. Don’t beat yourselves

This is one of the reasons that the Bills game was so difficult to watch. They were in the game going into the third quarter. They had moved the ball into scoring position on multiple occasions. It was only a two score game… and yet they just couldn’t seem to catch a break. How can they correct these wrongs?

Don’t drop passes

I’m being facetious here, dropped passes happen in the NFL. It just seemed like as soon as Miami got on the Bills side of the field, they caught a deadly case of butter fingers. DeVante Parker dropped a touchdown, Albert Wilson dropped a pass near the goal line, and Jakeem Grant fumbled in Bill’s territory. This is supposed to be a strength of the team, it’s time they start playing like one.

Block blitzers

This one is on the coaching staff, 100%. Either players made mistakes by not blocking the right man, which means the coaches didn’t drill it home enough. Or they were blocking the right man, but the scheme was garbage and they were out of place. Either way, the blame goes with the guys at the top, and I’m sure they feel the same way. The amount of free rushers that got to the QB was worrisome. Also, stop expecting Myles Gaskin to block outside linebackers for more than a second or two. Your offensive line can’t do that, why would a 5’10” running back be able to?

Avoid penalties & turnovers

The Dolphins wound up acquiring 9 penalties for 83 yards against the Bills. That is extremely uncharacteristic for a Brian Flores’ coached football team, and some of those penalties were costly. They also threw an interception, fumbled the ball away on multiple occasions, and turned it over on downs while in field goal range (you just paid Jason Sanders because he’s one of the league’s best, use him!). Winning football teams don’t make a habit of these things.

Final Thoughts

If the Miami Dolphins can show up and play (mostly) mistake free football, I think they have a shot in this game. It’s still early in the season, but the offense needs to find a way to move the football without their starting quarterback. You made one of the league’s best running backs coaches your co-offensive coordinator, so I would hope to see a run heavy game plan against the Raiders.

People have written off the Dolphins in this contest and that is usually when they have their best performances. The first two weeks of the season have historically been bad for Brian Flores, while week three was when the Dolphins broke out last year against the Jaguars. Could they beat the Raiders? Absolutely. But I got burned last week by picking them over the Bills.

27-21 Raiders over the Dolphins in Vegas