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Tua Tagovailoa, Jonnu Smith lead Dolphins offense in win vs. Raiders: Key takeaways

18 November 2024Last Update :
Tua Tagovailoa, Jonnu Smith lead Dolphins offense in win vs. Raiders: Key takeaways

Tua Tagovailoa threw for 288 yards and a season-best three touchdowns, tight end Jonnu Smith added a career-high 101 receiving yards and two scores and the Miami Dolphins closed out a 34-19 win over the visiting Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.

Miami never trailed, taking the lead on the game’s opening drive on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Tagovailoa to Smith on fourth-and-goal, completing a 14-play drive that took more than eight minutes. Miami’s next possession went for 16 plays and another eight-plus minutes, ending with the first of Jason Sanders’ two field goals as the Dolphins eventually took a 10-6 lead into halftime.

Miami extended its lead to double digits in the third on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Tagovailoa to Tyreek Hill, then pushed to 24-12 in the fourth on De’Von Achane’s 2-yard TD run.

The Raiders kept the score within reach until late, trailing by single digits at the break after a pair of field goals from Daniel Carlson. Las Vegas reached the end zone for the first time in the contest late in the third on a 23-yard pass from Gardner Minshew to Brock Bowers, and added a second touchdown with 4:23 left in the fourth on a 10-yard pass from Minshew to Ameer Abdullah to cut the lead to 24-19.

But Miami answered with Tagovailoa’s third touchdown pass of the game and Smith’s second touchdown catch on a 57-yard connection with 3:19 to go. Sanders added another field goal late as the Dolphins scored a season-high 34 points.

Miami (4-6) posted back-to-back wins for the first time this season, while the Raiders drop to 2-8 following a sixth consecutive loss.

Three TD passes for Tagovailoa

Tagovailoa seemed to be a little off-target all day, but when you looked down at the stats, he had completed 28 of 36 passes for 288 yards and three touchdowns in a game the Dolphins never trailed. He took what the Raiders gave him and the Dolphins have now won two games in a row.

Tagovailoa hit Smith for a game-opening touchdown, when the Raiders lost the tight end going in motion. Tagovailoa would find Smith again later on a third-down conversion on the Dolphins’ touchdown drive that gave them a 24-12 lead. And then again later for the game-sealing touchdown, when Smith was practically waving his arms behind the Raiders defense. The Dolphins were 8 of 12 on third downs.— Vic Tafur, Raiders beat writer

Las Vegas offense kept out of end zone in first half

After firing former offensive coordinator Luke Getsy following their Week 9 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Raiders promoted pass game coordinator Scott Turner to interim offensive coordinator. And in Turner’s first game as offensive play caller, the unit pretty much looked the same. The Raiders didn’t score their first touchdown until there was only 2:52 left in the third quarter. While it was a weird game — both teams had just three possessions each at that point — that doesn’t change the fact that the offensive performed poorly in a 19-point effort.

Bowers’ career day was essentially the lone bright spot for the offense. His 13 catches are the most by a rookie TE in one game in NFL history. Minshew was mediocre, the offensive line struggled to pass protect and run block, running backs Alexander Mattison and Zamir White rushed for just 28 yards combined and the receivers were all held in check. The Raiders offense put together a nice 14-play, 80-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to make it a one-score game, but it didn’t matter because their defense couldn’t stop a Dolphins offense that was rolling.

Honestly, it’s difficult to pile on Turner for the offensive performance. The offensive personnel has always been poor, and having a new play caller never meant that was going to magically change. In all likelihood, the Raiders’ offense will remain bad until they’re able to make substantial changes in the offseason. — Tashan Reed, Raiders beat writer

Raiders rookie TE has career day

The Dolphins had no answer for Bowers, as the rookie set career-highs with 13 catches for 124 yards receiving and a touchdown. The 23-yard scoring catch was vintage Bowers, as he took a short pass on the sideline, turned the corner and outran Dolphins defenders to the end zone.

Bowers is the third player in Raiders history to record five-plus catches in six consecutive games in a single season. The only others were Tim Brown in 1994 (six-game streak) and Jerry Rice in 2002 (seven-game streak). It is the longest streak by any NFL tight end this season. — Tafur

Required reading

  • NFL Week 11 live updates: Ravens-Steelers, Chiefs-Bills, predictions, odds, league scoreboard, inactives
  • Raiders’ Scott Turner will stress communication in 8-game audition as interim OC
  • Pressure shifts to Antonio Pierce as Raiders play out another likely losing season

(Photo: Rich Storry / Getty Images)

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