It was a day to forget for the Oakland Raiders down in South Beach as the Miami Dolphins came out firing on offense and stingy on defense, dominating the Silver and Black all afternoon, and eventually blowing them out by the score of 34-14 at Sun Life Stadium.
Miami got on the board on their opening drive with a 48 yard field goal from Dan Carpenter, then tightened the screws on the Silver and Black as Miami's defense held the Raiders to two straight punts on their first two drives. The Dolphins would then put another good looking drive together, leading to another 33 yarder from Carpenter to take a 6-0 lead.
Matt Moore would continue on with a seven play, 63 yard drive that ended with an eventual 12 yard touchdown pass to Davone Bess to make it 13-0 Dolphins heading into the locker room for halftime. That's what it really started to get ugly.
Miami's Clyde Gates took the second half kickoff 77 yards down to the Oakland 25, setting up Reggie Bush with two rushes and an eventual one yard touchdown scamper for the score. The Dolphins would get the ball back a few minutes later, and drive for seven and a half minutes on 13 plays, leading to a 6 yard Matt Moore touchdown run to make it 27-0.
As for the Raiders offense, it was an uphill battle all day as Carson Palmer finshed with 20/41 for 273 yards including a pick six to Kevin Burnett for a 34 yard touchdown return with about five minutes left in the third to make it 34-0. He would eventually hit T.J. Houshmandzadeh for a 40 yard TD pass to make it 34-7 with about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, ensuring the Silver and Black would not be shut out for the second time this year, and follow it up with another three yard TD pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey, his second tug of the season. But it was too little, too late.
The frustration was obvious for the Raiders as Richard Seymour would be ejected for throwing a punch, committed 10 penalties as a team, and had possession of the football for only 21 minutes compared to the 37 of Miami.
As for the Dolphins Reggie Bush had himself quite the afternoon, rushing 22 times for 100 yards while Matt Moore finished 13/25 for 162 yards including the aforementioned rushing and passing touchdowns. After starting 0-7, the Dolphins have now won four of their last five, while the Raiders earn their first loss in their last four games.
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