Dolphins can set the course like champs with a Raiders beatdown!
The Miami Dolphins are back from their Bye Week and hosting the Las Vegas Raiders who are 5-5 and will look to continue their dominance against teams that do not have winning records. The Raiders recently cleaned house by firing their head coach and general manager, which seemed to give them a spark in the two wins that followed. They are a tough and chippy team led by hard-nosed Antonio Pierce! But, despite all that hopeful talk about Vegas, the line opened up this week as -10 for the Dolphins and has quickly gone up to -12 on the best bookie software service.
Miami is considered a monster mid-season by Vegas!
Miami being so favored is pretty crazy because this is the 3rd or 4th game this season where the Dolphins have been double-digit favorites against another team.
Can anyone remember the last time that this happened this many times during a season?
The good thing is the oddsmakers are clearly believing this team is a contender because pretenders don’t get multiple games where they are favored by double digits. Also, after the Bills’ recent loss against the Broncos, the Dolphins are now a -375 favorite to win the division and currently have a 1.5-game lead on the Buffalo. If Miami can keep winning, then there is a good chance Miami can secure the division before they have to square off against the Bills for the last game of the season.
Amazing!
It appears the Raiders will stick with their rookie QB Aidan O’Connell instead of veteran Jimmy Garoppolo. There is no reason why our defense, who has turned it on the last couple of games, can’t continue their upward trend and put together a quality performance against the Raiders offense. Don’t get me wrong, the Raiders have two studs on offense in Josh Jacobs and Davante Adams, so they will need to focus on stopping them, but come on going against a rookie QB should give us some opportunities to force turnovers and create sacks!
On the other side of the ball, the Raiders’ defense has been okay. They are only allowing 20.5 points per game, which is better than our defense, which is allowing 25.0 points per game. They do have Maxx Crosby who is playing out of his mind though. But, while the Raiders are good against the pass they are terrible against the run. With Devon Achane returning this could be where the Dolphins break open the Raiders team with a huge day on the ground.
Stick to the script and Phins will be fine!
Miami just needs to stick to the game plan of keeping the offense balanced and not shying away from the running game. Then in the passing game, just keep feeding it to Hill and Waddle and let them just do their thing.
On paper, the Dolphins should win this game. However, nothing is given in the NFL, but a victory against an AFC team is always a bonus since that helps for tie-breakers. Miami needs all the victories they can get because the AFC is loaded with 9 teams with a winning record and three teams with a .500 record. Although, with Joe Burrow done for the season that’s one less contender!
This will be a tight playoff race, so it’s time for Miami to start stacking wins and distancing themselves from the rest of the pack. And if the Raiders get blown out, then that’s even better!
What are the rest of the Miami Dolphins News fans’ thoughts about this upcoming game?