Dolphins can blame themselves for tough loss in Las Vegas

The Miami Dolphins nearly created magic in their second consecutive trip to Las Vegas; nearly mounting an 11-point 4th-quarter comeback to win against the Raiders. But the math fell just short for Miami and instead the team conceded two overtime field goals, falling 31-28 to Las Vegas in the process and pushing this team down in the standings to 1-2.

Miami is still technically in second place in the AFC East; not that that serves as any kind of valuable consolation for a team that hoped to legitimize themselves as playoff contenders in 2021.

But here’s thing thing: we can all sit and bemoan the lack of defensive pass interference called against Will Fuller in the end zone during overtime. It was an egregious miss on a play that would have set up Miami, down 28-25 in overtime, on the 1-yard line with 1st-and-goal.

But Miami shouldn’t have gotten to overtime in the first place. The miscues from Miami are anything but what we’ve come to expect from a Brian Flores-coached team. Miami conceded a safety on their own 1-yard line by trying to throw a quick smoke to WR Jaylen Waddle on the perimeter; but the throw was high and forced Waddle to leave the ground to collect the ball.

Kicker Jason Sanders missed a field goal just before the half that left another 3 points on the field; creating a 5-point swing after Miami had claimed a 14-0 lead early in the contest.

Two Raiders touchdown drives were aided by 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalties from Miami; who logged a total of 8 penalties throughout the course of the day.

And then there was the matter of Miami’s disappearing act on offense. Up 14-0 after a long Malcolm Brown run, Miami appeared primed to take control of the game in the 1st-quarter. By the time they took their first possession in the 4th-quarter, Miami had conceded 25 straight points to the Raiders and the Dolphins’ offense had ran a collective total of 30 plays for 102 yards (3.4 yards per play) in what was an embarrassingly conservative effort from the Dolphins.

Yes, Miami nearly pulled out a miracle win. And no, the referees didn’t get the call right in the end zone in overtime. But Miami can thank themselves for sloppy play and trying to sit on a 14 point lead against one of the best offenses in football for their overtime loss to the Raiders.