Oakland Raiders: Keys to beating the Miami Dolphins in week three matchup

Put Points On The Board

Duh. Obviously, right?

Apparently though, it’s a case of, “easier said than done,” in Oakland’s case. The Raiders are coming in with the league’s tenth-ranked offense. Tenth. Gruden has helped turn them back into a top-ten offense again.

And yet, they also come into the game with the league’s twenty-eighth ranked scoring offense. Which means, they’re moving the ball, but they’re not punching it in – as evidenced by a team scoring a meager 16 points a game.

When you have an elite offensive line – that has, for the most part, kept Derek Carr clean, allowing just a pair of sacks over the opening two games – weapons like Amari Cooper, Martavis Bryant, Jordy Nelson, Jared Cook, and Marshawn Lynch at your disposal, scoring points shouldn’t be as difficult as it’s proven to be for the Raiders thus far.

Especially when you’re moving the ball up and down the field as well as the Raiders have so far this season, checking in with 384 yards of total offense per game.

Yet, points have been more elusive than Bigfoot.

And it might not be much easier, as they clash with the league’s fourth-ranked scoring defense. Again though, one has to wonder, how much of that lofty ranking is a product off the competition. Tennessee is scoring just twenty points per game, and though the Jets are now averaging 26 a game, you need to remember that 48 of their 77 total points this season, came in that blowout over the Lions in week one – the offense has cooled off considerably since then, posting a combined 29 points the last two weeks.

So, the question remains – how good is Miami’s scoring defense, actually?

The Raiders need to test it early, and often, and need to put some serious points on the board against Miami.