This season, the Raiders have seen a lot of opposing teams run away with games. With their trip to Miami this week, they will be trying to stop the Dolphins players from literally running away from them.
“One, you’ve got to be able to find a way to match up with their speed,” said Raiders DC Patrick Graham. “Whether it’s staying on top, whether it’s to run with them, you’ve got to figure out a way. There’s true speed out there on the field at a number of positions.”
The main focus in terms of speed will be wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Both of whom are established burners who are electric with or without the ball in their hands.
For the Raiders, it will be hoping that they have enough speed on defense to match up with them.
“There’s several guys that we got on the defense that can run,” Graham continued. “Now, I’m not saying I want to line up and do a foot race with anybody from Miami. These guys can run run. When I say true speed I mean true speed out there on the field. And it’s not limited to [Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle].
“So, for us as a defensive staff, we’ve got to figure out the best way to deploy the defense and try to keep this speed under control a little bit. Take away the space, staying on top, things of that nature. Jakorian [Bennett] in terms of Jakorian and Jack [Jones]. All of our defensive backs. We got guys that can run too, so it’s going to be a fun game in terms of just being able to challenge ourselves. I think that’s the big thing for the players. It’s a good challenge.”
When Graham mentions that the Dolphins’ speed is not limited to Hill and Waddle, he is thinking primarily of running back De’Von Achane and Raheem Mostert. And you could throw QB Tua Tagovailoa in there as well.
In other words, the Dolphins have many different ways they can beat you.
Al Davis was all about speed on both sides of the ball. But the classic Raiders were also all about hard nosed football. For the Raiders, if they can’t match their speed, they must outplay them in physicality.
“One thing Flo (Brian Flores) used to always say ‘You can’t ever forget about the physicality of this game,” Graham continued. “I don’t care how fast it looks, how much they try to make it — whether it’s run and shoot, whether it’s whatever they want to call the different offenses — NFL football is a physical game, especially as you start to move into November and you’re starting to ramp up into after Thanksgiving. You can’t ever forget the physicality of the game.”
So, it will be important for the Raiders to remind the Dolphins this is a physical game. However they need to do that.