Raiders’ report card: Defense has disastrous outing against Dolphins

How the Raiders performed in a 34-19 loss to the Dolphins:

Offense: C-

There were some good individual performances in interim offensive coordinator Scott Turner’s first game calling plays. Rookie tight end Brock Bowers was terrific and caught 13 passes for 126 yards with one touchdown. Miami couldn’t defend him. Wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, who had four catches for 28 yards, was the only other Raiders player that finished with more than three receptions. Quarterback Gardner Minshew was solid for the most part. He completed 30 of 43 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns. He did throw a key fourth-quarter interception when the Raiders were down 31-19 and trying to rally. The team still couldn’t run the ball, finishing with 60 yards on 16 attempts. The Raiders also couldn’t finish drives in the end zone. They had a first-and-goal from the 10-yard line in the first quarter and a first-and-goal from the 8-yard line in the second quarter and kicked field goals both times.

Defense

: F

This is the easiest grade of the season. The Raiders couldn’t get the Dolphins off the field. Miami scored on six of its seven drives and didn’t punt all game. Two of those possessions lasted longer than eight minutes, and another lasted more than seven. The Dolphins controlled the ball for 33:12. The Raiders extended some of those drives with penalties. Then they made a critical mistake in the fourth quarter trailing 24-19, as quarterback Tua Tagovailoa found a wide open tight end Jonnu Smith for a 57-yard touchdown with 3:19 remaining. Tagovailoa finished with 288 passing yards and three touchdowns to help Miami score more than 27 points for the first time this season. The Raiders’ defense continues to be far worse than anyone could have imagined when the season kicked off.

Special teams: B

Kicker Daniel Carlson made both his field-goal attempts but also made a huge mistake on a third-quarter kickoff when the ball fell short of the landing zone, giving the Dolphins the ball at their own 40-yard line. Miami then went 60 yards in 10 plays to take a 24-12 lead with 10:37 left in the fourth quarter. AJ Cole had one punt for 54 yards.

Coaching: F

Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham needs to take some serious blame here. His side of the ball hasn’t gotten things done for some time now. The blown coverage on Smith’s touchdown in the fourth quarter was just brutal. Turner’s play-calling didn’t lead to many explosive pass plays and the run game was still poor. Coach Antonio Pierce’s team is now 2-8 and has lost six straight.

Ed Graney Review-Journal