8:30 PM EST, NBC – Line: Raiders -3, Over/Under: 44
Unlike in 2016, Carr has not been able to consistently carry the Raiders this season, particularly given the Back Injury he sustained back in Week Four, which was expected to require surgery and sideline him for six weeks.
A pair of Playoff Teams from 2016 that have found themselves mired in chaos meet tonight in South Beach in an effort to finally figure things out before it’s too late, as the Miami Dolphins host the Oakland Raiders from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. After ending a fourteen-year postseason drought, the question in regards to the Raiders (3-5, 3rd in AFC West), would be if they indeed possessed the requisite staying power of a team that would be a perennial contender for years to come, or if they just so happened to be a proverbial flash in the pan. Well, with half of the season in the books, it has become readily apparent that the Silver & Black resemble the latter far more so than the former. To say that Jack Del Rio’ charges have been underachieved to this point would be an understatement, for Oakland’s struggles through eight games have been downright perplexing. Essentially, it’s become a puzzling case of a team who has been betrayed by virtually every one of their strengths. A year ago, the Offense was both balanced (13th Pass, 6th Rush) and explosive (26.0 Points per Game, 7th Overall) built on the foundation of one of the nastiest Offensive Lines in the league, with an emerging young Quarterback pulling the strings, while the Defense, despite giving up yards wholesale (375.1 Yards per Game, 26th Overall), made up for it by forcing a wealth of Turnovers (Thirty, 2nd Overall). Furthermore, this group was outrageously successful in close games, going 7-2 in games decided by seven points or less, with all seven of those victories achieved after trailing at some point in the Fourth Quarter, meaning seven of their twelve wins were Fourth Quarter Comebacks. So upon further review, were last season’s Raiders really as good as their record would suggest? While that’s debatable, their struggles in this term certainly are not; the Offense has been a mess, lacking any semblance of balance (15th Pass, 26th Rush), while ranking dead-last in the NFL in Rushing Attempts (20.8), with Derek Carr (64.6%, 236.3 Y/G, 6.43 NY/A, 2 TD, 6 INT) looking far less effective than he did in 2016, showing a reluctance to stretch the field, particularly after suffering a back injury that cost him just one game, despite initially being pegged to rob him of at least six outings. Lingering issues from the injury withstanding, the Fourth-Year Quarterback has NOT stood up well to pressure, which is something that he really didn’t face very often in 2016; a year ago, Carr was sacked just sixteen times, translating to a league-low 2.8% Sack Percentage, but in seven starts this far has already been dropped nine times, or in other words on 3.6% of his drop-backs, and has already matched his season total of Interceptions from a year ago (Six). For a Quarterback nursing a semi-serious Back Injury, it’s hardly ideal for him to have to throw the ball fifty-two and forty-nine times in successive contests. Seriously, we know that’s it become en vogue all of sudden to put all the struggles of a once-explosive Offense on the shoulders a new Playcaller (We’re looking at you Atlanta), but it’s outrageous to think that parting ways with former Offensive Coordinator Bill Musgrave and promoting Quarterbacks Coach Todd Downing is the lone reason for this groups startling underachievement. While Downing has zero playcalling experience on his CV, it’s not like Musgrave is setting the league ablaze, as he continues to preside over the mess that has become the Denver Broncos’ Offense. So with that said, what’s the excuse for the Defense? Through eight games, the Raiders have permitted 23.8 Points (23rd Overall) on 356.9 Total Yards (26th Overall), including 236.5 Yards versus the Pass (21st Overall) on 7.3 Net Yards per Attempt (29th Overall), along with 120.4 Yards against the Run (22nd Overall) on 4.0 Yards per Carry (17th Overall). While that line of statistics is largely comparable to what they did in the previous season (which isn’t impressive BTW), the major difference is the sudden drought of Takeaways (Five, 31st Overall), particularly Interceptions, where Oakland has now earned the dubious distinction of being the only team in NFL History not to register an Interception through their first eight games. This may be a case of two many cooks working in the same kitchen, for with Del Rio, a former NFL Linebacker and longtime Defensive Coordinator, Ken Norton Jr. (another former Linebacker) and Assistant Head Coach John Pagano (you guessed it, a former DC) each imparting their message to this beleaguered unit, is it any wonder they’ve been so damn inconsistent? Either way, they’ll get an opportunity to correct their trajectory tonight against one of the worst Offenses in the NFL at the moment, which we’re going to get into in precisely three, two, one…
Cutler has been nothing short of disappointing since arriving in Miami, leading statistically the worst Offense in the NFL this season.
Meanwhile, believe it or not, but the Dolphins (4-3, 3rd in AFC East) are actually in a far more chaotic state at the moment, but then again, that’s really been the only constant for this Franchise for the last three months now. First, Ryan Tannehill was lost for the season after sustaining a partially torn ACL back before the Preseason began, robbing Miami of their Starting Quarterback, and forcing them to panic and sign none other than Jay Cutler. Of course, the recently retired Cutler had to be coaxed away from a broadcasting deal with FOX to come keep Adam Gase’s Offense afloat despite not partaking in any form of Training Camp, and possessing zero chemistry with his new teammates. But hey, he and Gase have worked together in the past, so he’s gotta know the Playbook, right? Knowing it, and being able to execute it are two completely different things, which was readily apparent from the moment he took his first snap with the ‘Fins; despite going 4-2 in his six starts, it’s almost as if the team has won their games in spite of Cutler, who has completed 62.8% of his Attempts for an average of just 165.8 Yards per Game on a career-worst 4.70 Net Yards per Attempt, with seven Touchdowns and five Interceptions, while taking twelve Sacks, which translates to getting popped for a loss on 6.3% of his drop-backs. As you can imagine, the Offense hasn’t performed up to standards, ranking dead-last in the league in both Points Scored (13.1) and Total Offense (270.5), and in the bottom third in most significant categories. The problem here is that despite the talent reservoir being far from empty, there is simply a dearth of rhythm, timing, and consistency with this group, which has still been apparent even after the maligned Quarterback missed last week’s 40-0 trashing at Baltimore due to cracked ribs suffered the previous week. His Backup, Matt Moore, didn’t fare any better, completing just 25-of-44 Passes for 176 Yards and two Interceptions, both of which were returned for Touchdowns. Gase said after the game that if Cutler were indeed healthy enough to start tonight, then he would be his choice, but at this point the 34-Year Old’s status is likely to run all the way up to game time before an answer is provided. However, while we haven’t even touched upon the displacement that this team suffered due to the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Irma, which essentially robbed this team of a precious Bye Week, and the bizarre Substance Abuse Scandal involving since-released Offensive Line Coach Chris Foerster, they’ve added even more fuel to the proverbial fire by trading away Jay Ajayi (138 CAR, 465 YDS) to the Philadelphia Eagles earlier in the week, in what many around the league viewed as a cold hard message sent from Gase to his underachieving Offense. Granted, Ajayi had woefully underperformed this season, particularly in comparison to his stellar 2016 campaign, in which he rushed for 1,272 Yards and eight Touchdowns, but even with all that said, his departure was still stunning at the least. Rumors have suggested that many within Dolphins’ Camp believe that his legs are shot, which is curious given that he’s only been in the league in for three years, though there are other sources indicating that the London native’s age may very well be inaccurate, which is another issue altogether. Either way, the only way that this unit will ever get back on track is they are able to maintain some semblance of balance, though it’s hard to imagine the likes of either Damien Williams (12 CAR, 32 YDS) or Kenyan Drake (10 CAR, 25 YDS) carrying the Rushing attack over the second half of the season. In 2016, so much of their success on this side of the ball was predicted on building the vertical passing attack off of their ground game; Miami ranked Ninth in Rushing Offense (9th Overall) and Eighth in Yards per Carry (8th Overall) a year ago, helping Tannehill and Moore collectively average a healthy 6.9 Net Yards per Attempt (6th Overall), but this season rank a dismal Thirty-First in both rushing categories leading to an unsurprising 4.7 Net Yards per Attempt, also next-to-last in the league.