On Monday night, not a lot went well for the Oakland Raiders. However, the one thing that did go extremely well, one that bodes excellently for their future success was the run defense. The Chargers gained only 32 yards on the ground and the Raiders played disciplined, smart football in that aspect. Defenders swarmed to the ball without overpursuing, stuffed the gaps and sniffed out the play each time the Chargers attempted to run the ball. Richard Seymour, Miles Burris and the oft-maligned Rolando McClain were particularly impressive.
For the Dolphins, it is imperative that they get Reggie Bush going to take pressure off their rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill. He was awful against Houston in Week 1, throwing three interceptions. Houston was up by several scores early in the game and Miami was forced to abandon the run, giving Bush only 14 carries for 69 yards. That will not do if they want to be competitive. Bush needs at least twenty carries a game, and probably needs to be their top pass target as well since the Dolphins have zero above average receivers.
It's pretty clear that Miami is a bad team. The Raiders, however, always have trouble when traveling to the East Coast and this game is in Miami. The Dolphins and Raiders both want to show that they are better than they appeared in Week 1. Whichever team gains the upper hand in the battle of rushing vs. rush defense will have a clear advantage in the game overall,
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