5 takeaways from Oakland Raiders’ win over Miami Dolphins

The Oakland Raiders get a win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday Night Football before their Week 10 bye. Here are five takeaways from their win over Miami.

With their backs against the wall, the Oakland Raiders played a complete game on Sunday night to beat the Miami Dolphins on the road in primetime, 27-24. Oakland improves to 4-5 heading into its Week 10 bye. Miami stumbles back to .500 at 4-4 after their loss at home.

For a game that featured two AFC teams that weren’t playing all that great heading into it, America got a competitive game that went down to the wire. Oakland had to recover an onside kick to seal the deal over Miami. The Dolphins weren’t about to sneak one by the Raiders for a second time.

With the result of this game, all it did was muddy up the AFC playoff picture. While Miami could be out of it emotionally, the Dolphins did play hard enough in primetime to keep themselves alive for another week or so. Oakland has to be relieved to be 4-5 instead of 3-6 heading into its bye.

With this being one of the better games the Silver and Black have played this season, here are five of the biggest takeaways from Oakland’s road win over the Dolphins on Sunday Night Football in Week 9 down in Miami.

Oakland’s playoff dreams are still alive

Through Week 9, the Raiders find themselves in ninth place in the AFC. They are 1.5 games back of the Buffalo Bills (5-3) for the No. 6 seed in the playoff picture. Oakland is also only two games back of the Kansas City Chiefs (6-3) in the AFC West.

With this win over Miami, Oakland is still very much alive in the AFC playoff mix heading into their bye. No, this team shouldn’t be favored to reach the AFC playoffs going forward. However, the Raiders have done just enough to keep themselves in what should be an interesting race the rest of the way.

At this time, the only team we can certainly cross off out of the AFC is the winless Cleveland Browns (0-8). Five teams in the AFC have just three wins through nine weeks. Two of those teams include Oakland’s division rivals in the Denver Broncos (3-5) and the Los Angeles Chargers (3-5), both of whom have had their byes already.

With Kansas City being losers in three of their last four games, the AFC West is becoming more competitive. Apparently, the Chiefs aren’t running away with it after all. With a head-to-head victory over Kansas City, Oakland’s chances of winning the division might be as good as getting in as a wild card team. The odds aren’t in Oakland’s favor, but it’s good to be playoff viable for the next few weeks or so.