Miami offense sputters as Dolphins lose 27-13 to Raiders and more takeaways

The Miami Dolphins’ season opener showed the downsides of a young team.

On one sideline, there was quarterback Malik Willis making his seventh start of his career. On the other, there was 15-year veteran Kirk Cousins making start 168.

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The result: the elder quarterback managed to weather the ups and downs of an NFL game just a little bit better than his younger counterpart as the Las Vegas Raiders beat the Dolphins 27-13.

Cousins would complete 70% of his passes for 160 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Willis managed 220 yards on a 56% completion rate. He also added a touchdown on the ground and 39 rushing yards.

“I think it can be way cleaner,” Willis said of the offense’s operation, later adding that “we just got to continue to learn from it. We got a lot of young guys and even the vets who got to continue to get better as well as myself. I can’t turn the ball over.”

The Raiders also managed more first downs (21 to 13), third-down conversions (five to two) and fewer sack yards (0 to 35).

Granted, Cousins had the benefit of the Dolphins’ lackluster pass rush as the unit yielded zero sacks. Willis, meanwhile, had to face the vaunted defensive end Maxx Crosby, who finished with 1.5 of the Raiders’ five sacks.

“You can blame them all on me,” Willis said of the sacks, calling them a “quarterback stat.” “I got to take care of the ball and I got to do right by my offensive line and get the ball out.”

Miami’s inability to get the run game going also contributed to the offensive failures as star running back De’Von Achane finished with 36 yards on 11 carries.

Dolphins can’t stop the run

It’s an issue that dates to 2025.

Why, despite a significant investment into the defensive line in the 2025 NFL, can’t the Dolphins stop the run?

That was certainly the case against the Raiders as running backs Ashton Jeanty and Mike Washington Jr. combined for 143 yards on 30 rushes. Jeanty added another six catches for 45 yards and two scores through the air.

“He’s a really good player,” linebacker Jacob Rodriguez said of Jeanty, who rushed for 102 yards on 23 carries. “Both backs were really good tonight.”

With Miami’s inability to stop the run, the Raiders were able to gash the Dolphins in the play action.

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“We couldn’t attack the quarterback,” Rodriguez said. “We’re trying to stop the run and then it goes for play action to quick game. We really didn’t have many chances to affect the quarterback and we got to be better on our side of the ball in doing that. Again, it goes back to stopping the run. If you stop the run, you earn the right to rush the passer and we didn’t do that tonight.”

Penalties are drive-killers

The Dolphins had the ball within 30 yards of the end zone in the second quarter.

Unfortunately, back-to-back holding penalties forced Miami back 20 yards.

The result: the Dolphins had to kick a field goal.

That wasn’t the only time the Dolphins sacrificed points due to a penalty.

Miami appeared on the verge of forcing a three-and-out on Las Vegas’ second drive of the day — that is, until cornerback JuJu Brents was called for a questionable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Five plays later, the Raiders kicked a field goal.

In total, the Dolphins gave up 61 yards on eight penalties. The Raiders, meanwhile, lost 29 yards on six penalties.

“The penalties killed us,” coach Jeff Hafley said, “and forced us into a lot of passing situations that were crucial, and you really don’t want to be in against that team.”

Caleb Douglas can be legit

Wide receiver was always going to be a question mark for the Dolphins in 2026 following the departure of Jaylen Waddle.

That, however, might be a rather premature statement as Douglas started his NFL career with 94 yards on five catches. At the half, he had four catches for 81 yards.

“He had a great camp,” Willis said. “He learned a lot from OTAs, and he’s doing a great job of wanting to get better and wanting to be out there and make plays.”

What makes Douglas so special is that he simply has a knack for getting open. He did it from the outside. He did it from the slot. He caught deep balls. And he certainly utilized his run-after-catch abilities.

Special teams woes

Two.

That’s how many kick returns of more than 45 yards that the Dolphins allowed.

The result?

Two 13-yard catch-and-runs from Jeanty.

This is the importance of special teams, especially considering that the Raiders managed to capitalize on both long returns.

“We need to play better on teams,” Hafley said. “Their starting field position seemed to be pretty good all day.”

The Dolphins, meanwhile, could not do the same when a 79-yard return courtesy of running back Jaylen Wright got Miami into the red zone. Not only did the Willis-led offense go backwards, kick Riley Patterson would miss the 41-yard field goal.

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This story was originally published September 13, 2026 at 7:34 PM.