The Oakland Raiders don’t play well on the East Coast, going 4-20 over their last two-dozen games. The Miami Dolphins, on the other hand, are undefeated in their last 11 games when they’ve played host to a West Coast team. This trend favors Miami just enough to make them 3-point favorites as they head into this Sunday’s Week 9 match-up against Oakland, in Florida.
The Raiders could not sustain the good feelings of their miracle win against Kansas City on Thursday night. They came and went to Buffalo and barely made a wimper. The loss was not totally surprising but the fact that the offense barely posed a threat to the Bills has to be concerning given it is the strength of the team.
Marshawn Lynch was supposed to give then some thump in the running game but he has been in and out of the lineup and not much of a factor when he is on the field. Buffalo was able to prevent the Raiders from making big plays in the passing game and without them this team struggled moving down the field consistently. Turnovers also killed them. They have to get things straightened out fast or else they will be out of it before they realize.
Oakland has no choice but to pick things up on offense because the defense is showing no signs of winning ball games. Buffalo ran all over them. With the season on the line I would expect they get a little more aggressive. There is no reason to go down with bullets in the gun so to speak. Further Miami is a perfect team to ramp things up against and take more chances. If Matt Moore beats you then more power to them.
Throughout this odd season there have been a lot of lopsided results but the Dolphins may take the cake losing 40-0 to Baltimore, also on a Thursday. Miami has a winning record at the moment but it is hard to see how they are going to keep that up given how inept their offense looks at times. Even with Cutler and now he is gone.
Miami was hoping that Jay Ajayi could be a bell cow kind of back but it hasn’t happened. He is having a really good game here and there but not the 200 yarders we saw last year. Without him busting loose like that this group is really struggling to move the ball. They are not efficient enough to just go up and down the field. Not with this group.
Miami’s defense is better than Oakland’s but not good enough to be winning games all by themselves. What they want to do is set things up so one play can turn the game and then hope that Suh or Wake can be a difference maker. The Dolphins should know they need to get after Carr and make it hard to pass but that doesn’t mean they will be able to execute it. The defense is just OK.
Writer’s Prediction:
It says a lot about the state of these two teams that Oakland can lose the way it did and still be a solid favourite on the road. There will be a lot of situational reasons to take the home team but I am just not seeing it here. Pick: Raiders (-3)
