Every time the Miami Dolphins play it seems to be more and more meaningful and tonight against the Las Vegas Raiders is as big as it comes. It’s nice to have something to play for in December, it feels different.
Tonight they travel to Nevada to play the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium on the NFL Network’s Saturday Night Football, the Fins second primetime game of the 2020 season, and Tua Tagovailoa’s first.
Derek Carr looks good to play for the Las Vegas Raiders, which might actually be a good thing for the Dolphins. We all know this defense has struggled against mobile quarterbacks, so Marcus Mariota would have been tricky to defend.
Carr’s alright, not bad, but not elite, just alright. It’s his weapons that the Dolphins need to worry about. Henry Ruggs may be good to go, which would be massive for them as he offers a deep threat, whilst TE Darren Waller has put up WR 1 numbers for the past two seasons.
AT AQUA THIRTEEN EVERY WEEK PUT TOGETHER OUR PREDICTIONS AHEAD OF A MATCHDAY, SO HERE ARE OUR MIAMI DOLPHINS @ LAS VEGAS RAIDERS PREDICTIONS.
Keith: The Las Vegas Raiders are in desperation mode despite boasting a 7-7 record and Jon Gruden will likely turn to Marcus Mariota against the Dolphins. Miami is 4-2 on the road this season, and they have thrived off turnovers. Salvon Ahmed is an emerging running back, and he’ll be a difference maker against a Raiders’ defense that allows 125.8 yards rushing and an average of 30.1 points per game.
I think the Dolphins will win this game 28 -17 with Tua and Ahmed both scoring a rushing TD and keep their playoff hopes alive.
Andy: How good is it that Miami are playing important games around Christmas? This is a huge game as the Dolphins look to eliminate the Raiders from playoff contention. A win would keep Miami in the playoff positions. The Raiders defense has been poor this season, which may help Tua and the offense as some of the the offensive weapons look to potentially be back.
Our secondary needs to be able to stop the big plays, which we have seen the Raiders do this season with speedy wideout Henry Ruggs. His status is in doubt which will help Miami.
I do not rate Derek Carr against good defenses and I feel that the Miami D can get to him and force some takeaways.
Miami 28-17 Las Vegas
Richard: The Dolphins’ season now comes down to two must win games, starting with a visit to the out-of-form Las Vegas Raiders.
Surely, having come this far, the Dolphins won’t blow their season against a team that they should beat?
At this point, the Dolphins D continues to impress week after week and I have faith in them to shut down the Raiders’ offence, regardless of whether it’s marshalled by Derek Carr or the more mobile Marcus Mariota. The two main threats for Las Vegas are tight end Darren Waller, who Eric Rowe matches up pretty well against, and running back Josh Jacobs, who is still struggling with a knee injury. I trust the Dolphins to make big plays if and when they need them.
It’s possible the Dolphins have pretty much their whole WR room available this week, plus maybe Gesicki too. Those, couple with the emerging talent of Salvon Ahmed at running back, should mean the Dolphins move the ball enough to get the job done in the Death Star.
Another road win, Dolphins 24 Raiders 16.
And here hoping for a mid-play high-five by our offence at some point.
Jay: The playoffs start now! This is a must win game to ensure our postseason aspirations remain in our own control.
The Las Vegas Raiders have been in free fall for be last couple of weeks but on the offence they still have several playmakers able to make big plays. It appears Carr will be starting which I think will work in our favour. Ball security is possibly his biggest weakness so I think the front seven will be chomping at the bit looking for multiple takeaways.
I can see them rushing the ball and relying on Josh Jacobs heavily so our run D needs to be on point, and they’re improving with each game. Ruggs may not play but Waller abs Aghalor have big play potential, so we need to keep them quiet.
Defensively I don’t think the Las Vegas Raiders offer too much of a problem. I can see us running the ball a lot early on to open up the passing game and hopefully we’ll see some continuity off the back of an excellent rushing performance last week by Ahmed and Brieda. We should also have the big boys back in Gesicki and Parker so look for some big plays there.
I like the way the offence is evolving under Tua and it’s improving every game. Add our starting receiving skill players back into the mix and this could be a very exciting game. Dolphins to win 31-17
Gareth: For tonight my biggest concern is the run defence. If we can stop Josh Jacobs we can win the game. We can stop their passing attack but not if we can’t stop the run.
This could be countered by our offence. Their defence is worse then NE. Even if NE lacks talented players their scheme helps them which is something LV can’t fall back on. There is no reason to think Ahmed won’t have another good day rushing 80-100 yards would be my guess.
I think we will stop their running attack whilst controlling the TOP. Carr isn’t the most mobile and I don’t think Mariota is as good as Carr.
Last game was the first tine I noticed us running different running plays which suited our RB’s. For example Breida seemed to run more of the type of plays he did in SF.
Dolphins 24 – Raiders 14
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