Reactions to Raiders' loss vs. Dolphins

Patrick Graham's unit is running out of excuses

I have been the first person to give the Raiders' defense the benefit of the doubt this season, but they are starting to enter inexcusable territory as a group.

While they have dealt with a plethora of key injuries and an offense that provides no help to them, they have issues of their own that are independent of any other facet of the game.

Miami had their way with the Raiders on Sunday, scoring on every one of their drives except one that was cut short by halftime. On their six full drives, they recorded four touchdowns and two field goals.

In addition to that, no matter who is in the game for Las Vegas, the team has had trouble putting any real pressure on opposing quarterbacks and this Sunday was no different.

The Dolphins dropped back to pass 38 times in Week 11 and the Raiders only hit the quarterback two times.

They also failed to force a turnover against a Dolphins offense that has turned it over multiple times in three of their last five games.

Lastly, it seems that they have a glaring miscommunication at least once, but more often, multiple times in a game that leads to a walk-in touchdown for the opponent, typically a tight end.

Perhaps this falls on the shoulders of a specific position group, or maybe it is a product of all of the moving pieces on the Raiders' defense. Regardless, I acknowledged the lack of durability that the Las Vegas cornerback room had shown up until this season.

Whether Tom Telesco failed to acquire legitimate depth or Graham has failed to develop his own players, these simple mistakes and communication errors are not made by good defenses, let alone great ones.