The Dolphins come to Las Vegas in Week 3, as the Raiders seek to avenge the heartbreaking loss to Miami last season inside Allegiant Stadium.
Both the Miami Dolphins and Las Vegas Raiders come into this game with injury issues, especially, the Dolphins, who are not only coming off a 35-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, but they also lost their starting quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa. The Raiders were worried they would lose their starter as well during their Week 2 win, but Derek Carr shook off an ankle injury and returned right away.
Head coach Jon Gruden said in his press conference earlier this week that the Raiders need to come into this game with the right mindset, because the Miami Dolphins just got their butts kicked, and professional athletes don’t like to get those butts kicked two weeks in a row. Las Vegas goes into this game 2-0, but as we saw last year, early-season starts do not mean much when you falter in the second half of the year.
However, with the veteran leadership the Raiders have, I don’t see them getting too high on themselves, and I truly believe they have a one-week-at-a-time mentality. Underdogs the first two weeks, Las Vegas is actually favored to win inside Allegiant Stadium Sunday afternoon, and rightfully so.
Miami is without Tua, and will now turn to Jacoby Brissett, who is a player who has won games in the NFL and can hurt teams with his legs as well as his arm. The Raiders’ defense will have to be as relentless with their pass rush as they have been these first two weeks to disrupt a player making his first start of 2021.
Let’s take a deeper look into this matchup on Sunday in Allegiant Stadium and find four reasons the Raiders will beat the Dolphins in Week 3.