Las Vegas Raiders: 3 keys to victory against Miami Dolphins

Las Vegas Raiders: 3 keys to victory against Miami Dolphins

Establish the running game

The Raiders have struggled mightily running football in recent weeks thanks to a combination of playing tough run defenses and a rash of injuries on the office of line. Against Baltimore, they had a little more success thanks to the presence of Josh Jacobs but they were not able to generate much of a rushing attack with Kenyan Drake and Peyton Barber against Pittsburgh.

In fact, the Raiders currently boast the 30th worst rushing offense in the NFL which is hard to believe for a Jon Gruden team.

Miami has been much more generous to rushing offenses and has given up over 100 yards to both New England and Buffalo including a 100-yard rusher in Damien Harris in Week 1. Derek Carr has been playing elite and mostly mistake-free football but putting too much pressure on him opens the door for potential disaster.

If the Raiders can establish some semblance of a running game with Barber and Drake, that should help to take some pressure off of Carr and his battered offensive line. Perhaps Gruden will deploy some 13 personnel to help with the run blocking but it will come down to how well this offensive line can hold up.

This group will now be playing essentially their third full game together and we could start to see some of the cohesiveness needed for the run game to be successful.