MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Miami Dolphins are 7-3, and that’s the most important thing. And the defense was fantastic in their 20-13 win over the bad Las Vegas Raiders.
But the offense and special teams did everything it could to make a should-be blowout competitive.
Las Vegas Raiders vs. Miami Dolphins Observations
Troubling Turnovers
The Dolphins entered Sunday’s game with a minus-4 turnover margin and 13 giveaways. Those numbers got worse in the first half thanks to fumbles by Tua Tagovailoa and Julian Hill.
Then on the first drive coming out of the break, Tagovailoa threw his eighth interception of the season.
Luckily for the offense, the Dolphins’ defense came to play Sunday, and despite being handed two short fields by those turnovers, limited the Raiders to just two field goals.
The Dolphins are talented enough to get away with bad mistakes like those against bad teams. But against the top tier, they aren’t.
Their losses to the Bills, Eagles, and Chiefs are proof of that.
Another Monster Tyreek Hill Game
The Dolphins have now played 10 games in 2023. Tyreek Hill has gone over 100 yards in six of them.
The Raiders had no answers Sunday for the NFL’s leading receiver, as Hill repeatedly got free in the secondary. The Miami wideout had a dazzling 38-yard touchdown catch and run and finished with 146 yards on 10 receptions.
Hill did that despite playing through a hand injury that caused him to miss some time in the first half.
Tagovailoa finished 28 of 39 for 324 yards and two touchdowns Sunday.
Another De’Von Achane Injury
The De’Von Achane return lasted all of three snaps. In his first game back off of IR, Achane got hurt again. The issue? Another knee injury.
Achane got hurt in the first half and underwent a lengthy evaluation in the sideline medical tent before going into the locker room for a closer look. Achane did emerge from the dressing room in the second half and watched the remainder of the game from the sidelines.
Making matters worse, Salvon Ahmed left the game in the fourth quarter to get checked out for a possible concussion, leaving Raheem Mostert for a time as the only active Dolphins running back.
The Jalen Ramsey Effect
Jalen Ramsey needed just three games to take over the team lead in interceptions. He had his second and third in aqua and orange Sunday, making two diving picks off Aidan O’Connell Sunday — the second in the end zone of a one-score game with just seconds left on the clock.
Ramsey also had suffocating coverage on Jakobi Meyers on a deep shot on 4th-and-1 from the Dolphins’ 31 midway through the fourth quarter.
MORE: NFL Playoff Picture Week 11
Miami’s defense is just on a different level with Ramsey on the field. Vic Fangio’s group limited the Raiders to 13 points (six of which came off of turnovers), 296 yards, and 12 first downs.
Jaelan Phillips helped secure the win with an interception on a desperation throw by O’Connell late in regulation.
Jason Sanders Missed FG
At some point, you are who your stats say you are.
Take, for example, Jason Sanders. He’s a very good kicker inside of 50 yards (making more than 80% of his attempts between 40 and 49 yards since 2021).
And he’s very bad from 50 and beyond.
Sanders missed another long kick Sunday. He pulled a 50-yard attempt wide in the second half — his 10th miss from 50+ since the start of the 2021 season — the same year Sanders signed a contract extension.
Sanders did make up for it later in the third quarter, drilling a 51-yard attempt.
From the current NFL standings to team depth charts to coverage of every game in the 18-week NFL schedule, we have all the news from around the league to keep you up to speed!