Oakland Raiders at Miami Dolphins: 5 takeaways from Week 3
The pass rush fades fast
Against Miami the Raiders pass rush was able to cause Ryan Tannehil some trouble in the first half. They only recorded one sack, credited to Clinton McDonald, but don’t be fooled by the box score. The Raiders defensive line made Tannehil’s job very difficult in the first half. On a less mobile quarterback, they probably would have had three or four sacks in the first half.
Despite how disruptive the pass rush was, they were not able to close out the game in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter. In crunch time the defensive line looked gassed, just like they did last week against Denver. To be fair, Denver and Miami are both unforgiving places to play, but still, they disappear.
Add in all of the comments Jon Gruden has made about finding a pass rusher and you have a disastrous situation. So let’s recap. The Raiders have one of the best pass-rushers in the league in Khalil Mack. They then trade Mack, and they have issues on the defensive line with regards to applying pressure on the quarterback. Correlation?
Nonetheless, Mack is gone and the Raiders need to come up with a way to replace him. It isn’t going to be easy, but they need to do something or they will continue to surrender leads late in the game. Perhaps if the season continues on this trajectory they will be in play for either Nick Bosa or Ed Oliver come draft time.