The Las Vegas Raiders will try to keep their unblemished preseason record intact when heading to South Beach on Saturday to take on the Miami Dolphins. They steamrolled the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Hall of Fame Game before eking out a win last Sunday over the Minnesota Vikings.
Now, they’ll be tasked with overcoming a head-to-head meeting with a Dolphins team that just handed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a loss on the road. Raiders coach Josh McDaniels is now 4-6 in preseason games, while first-year Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel is 1-0.
The Raiders haven’t lost a game, and Jarrett Stidham is turning heads in the battle for the role of backup quarterback. Do we really need to see Derek Carr?
There’s a good chance Raiders coach Josh McDaniels is asking himself the very same thing. Carr has looked great at training camp, and there really is no reason for risking injury for himself or even All-Pro wideout Davante Adams in a preseason game.
So it could be more of Stidham, who should have no issues attacking a Dolphins secondary that got chewed up by rookie Kyle Trask and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their opener. While Stidham has shown issues with being unreliable with the ball at times, there are also times when he can stand in the pocket and deliver the sort of throws you’d typically see from an NFL starter.
However, things could interesting if the Raiders get away from Stidham and veter an Nick Mullens in favor of more work from rookie Chase Garbers. The work load for the first-timer has been limited so far in the preseason.
On the other side of the ball, the Raiders will have to do a better job of defending against the rushing attack considering they gave up 115 yards on the ground to Minnesota last week.