Las Vegas Raiders vs. Miami Dolphins: 2021 Week 3 defensive grades

The Las Vegas Raiders match last season’s home win total as they beat the Miami Dolphins 31-28 in overtime and avenge their loss from last season.

The Las Vegas Raiders and the Miami Dolphins once again battled down to the last seconds of the game, only this time, the Silver and Black were able to come away with the victory.  As was the case last year, Miami got a gutty performance from their backup quarterback, though Jacoby Brissett was not able to pull off the kind of miracle Ryan Fitzpatrick did during the 2020 season.

The Raiders were solid on defense in this one, as after Malcolm Brown’s 24-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, they did not allow another point until the eight-minute mark in the fourth quarter.  The defense gave the offense every chance it could to put the game away for good, but the offense struggled to end the game and kept putting the defense back on the field.

There were discipline issues late, but in the end, the defensive line was impressive and was in Brissett’s face all game long. While 28 points is a lot to a team with a backup signal-caller, Brissett has won games at the NFL level and got some help from the refs late in the fourth quarter.

Here, we hand out some defensive grades for the Week 3 victory over the Fins.