Dolphins look for 4th straight win hosting Raiders
Oakland enters game in Miami as 10.5 point underdog
The Dolphins, winners of their past three games, enter this weekend’s game against their longtime AFC foe, the Oakland Raiders, as 10.5 point favorites. Despite Miami’s recent success and a possible battle for second place on the horizon with division rival New England, head coach Tony Sparano has looked to keep his team grounded and laughed off any notion that the upcoming contest against the Raiders could be a trap game. “Who are we? We can’t look by anybody,” the rookie head coach exclaimed during a post practice press conference.
With the stretch run approaching, Sparano’s existential question will be answered soon enough. The Dolphins face what may be the league’s easiest remaining schedule, with upcoming contests against doormats Oakland, St. Louis, San Francisco, and Kansas City. However, no win has come easy to a Dolphins team that has clearly overachieved thus far with a limited talent base, as evidenced by their narrow victory last Sunday against Seattle. Miami’s ugly win is ironically within the eye of the beholder. In one instance, it proves that this team is good enough to win even while not giving its best performance. Or perhaps it is an indicator that this team lacks the talent to dominate the bottom rungs of the league.
Miami’s run defense will undoubtedly be tested this weekend against the Raiders. The silver and black rank 9 th in the league in rushing and their rushing attack will receive a boost this Sunday with the return of rookie Darren McFadden, who been sidelined the past few weeks with a turf toe. Miami’s ability to stop Oakland’s ground attack may likely determine which team prevails. The Dolphins must force the Raiders into third and long situations in which their defense can tee off on second year quarterback JaMarcus Russell, who has struggled this season, completing less than 50 percent of his passes. Also, Miami’s improved secondary should face its easiest match up of the year against one of the league’s worst receiving corps. Stopping the run will be defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni’s number one priority.
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On offense, the Dolphins starting duo of Greg Camarillo and Ted Ginn has made steady progress at the wide receiver position over the past few weeks. However, the Raiders possess one of the NFL’s best cover corners in Nnamdi Asomugha. Whichever receiver Asomugha is not matched up against will likely be Pennington’s primary target. The Raiders main weakness on defense has been against the run, but Miami’s ground game has been maddeningly inconsistent this season and has struggled at times against teams which generally have had difficulty containing the run. Miami is perhaps most vulnerable on special teams. Their coverage units are among the worst in the league and the Dolphins have continually lost the field position battle.
Oakland @ Miami Prediction
Unfortunately, I feel an upset brewing. The Dolphins played poorly last week and were lucky to beat Seattle. Chad Pennington’s play has regressed the past couple weeks as well. That being said, the Raiders are beyond horrible and I cannot with good conscience pick them to actually win a game, especially when they have to fly across the entire country. As long as the Dolphins take care of the football they should be able to win this game.
Miami 20 - Oakland 17
By Glenn Katzman
ProFootball-fans.com Miami Dolphins Correspondent