Miami offense vs. Oakland defense

	DOLPHINS OFFENSE
	Ranking in the NFL:
	Run	18
	Pass	11
	Tot. Yds.	11
	Scoring	5
	Int's allowed	7
	Sacks allowed	12
	RAIDERS DEFENSE
	Ranking in the NFL:
	vs. Run	8
	vs. Pass	24
	Total yds. allowed	17
	No. of INTs	13
	No. of Sacks	19
	Turnover differential	0

With Dan Marino out indefinitely and looking for second opinions from doctors in California, the Dolphins are forced to settle for Damon Huard as their starting quarterback. Huard has been impressive in the fact that he has not turned the ball over a ton of times and he has been mobile enough to get out of trouble in the pocket. Even more impressive is that Huard will take the sack instead of throwing into coverage. Nonetheless, the Dolphin offense is just a shell of its former self with Huard behind center. It is obvious that Jimmy Johnson is playing it close to the vest, conservatively calling plays that Huard is comfortable with and has executed with success in practice. The problem with this scenario is that defenses understand that Huard is not going to be asked to throw the ball 35 times or throw it much downfield, so coordinators are able to prepare accordingly.

The Raiders should thrive against the conservative Dolphins offense because it allows them to match up their corners, Eric Allen and Charles Woodson, in single man coverage, allowing the Oakland to stack eight men in the box to stymie the run and get after the inexperienced quarterback. Defensive coordinator Willie Shaw will do a lot of interesting things up front to put pressure on Huard and to also diversify his reads. Shaw will run a lot of wide stunts and blitz his linebackers off the edge on the strong side to split the tight end and offensive tackle. The Raiders also love to get WLB K.D. Williams up the field to rush the passer, which will allow Shaw to drop DE's James Harris or Lance Johnstone in coverage out on the flats.

Huard has had some trouble when teams zone blitz, because he has been strictly reading the cornerbacks who have been playing seven-to-eight yards off the receiver. When he sees this he has been signaling to his receiver to run a quick hitch or slant, but what he does not realize is that the scheme is designed to lure him into the quick throw, knowing that either a defensive end or linebacker is going to break for the flat on the snap of the ball.

Because of Huard's troubles reading coverages and making the throws, Miami is going to work diligently to establish the running game, even though the Raiders are prepared to defend against it. Miami is overmatched on the interior line against DT Darryl Russell and Russell Maryland, but the one thing to notice when watching film on the Raiders defense is that their linebackers tend to get out of position. The Dolphins are going to be able to run a lot of counter and cutbacks on the Raiders because their linebacking corps is active to a fault. The outside linebackers, Williams and Richard Harvey, explode upfield and leave cutback lanes as long as the offensive tackles are able to ride them wide. The key for the Dolphins running attack will be to get excellent downfield blocking from the offensive center and the wide receivers, and for the offensive tackles, Richmond Webb and James Brown, to force everything wide and stick with their backside blocks.

Gruden is going to have to spread the ball around more offensively and use more of a short passing game as the low-risk approach to the offense. Last week, with Wheatley missing a good portion of the game, the Raiders offense was unable to run down the clock by running the ball effectively inside. Oakland was forced to open things up more and utilize Gannon's mobility and playmaking skills to move the ball down the field. With a broken left wrist, Gannon is going to have to be more conservative, which means the offense needs to find a way to operate without its two most important weapons. The Dolphins are sure to take advantage of the Raiders misfortune by attacking the quarterback with a lot of eight-man fronts. Miami's speed on defense is going to present a lot of problems for the Raiders. With Wheatley out of the lineup, Napoleon Kaufman becomes the premier back again. Kaufman is a speedster at 170 pounds, but his speed will be neutralized against Miami.

The Dolphins will lock their corners onto the Raider receivers in man-to-man coverage, leaving the FS back in the deep zone to give safety support. Up front, the Dolphin DT's Tim Bowens and Darryl Gardener do an excellent job of occupying blockers and allowing MLB Zach Thomas to roam free. Thomas shows an uncanny knack for finding the open blitz lanes and attacking it at the exact time it clears. Rich Gannon is going to have to be able to get rid of the ball on a lot of three-step drops to his hot receivers. James Jett and Tim Brown will do a lot of motioning into crossing routes and quick slants that open up right away. If they get jammed off the line of scrimmage, Gannon will be forced to hit his tight end, Ricky Dudley, off the line of scrimmage, or Kaufman out of the backfield.

The biggest key in this game is the way Gannon is able to deal with the pressure and speed of Miami's defense. Jimmy Johnson knows that the Raiders are hurting on offense and will be looking to exploit their weaknesses. Without a steady inside run game, Oakland is going to have to find a way to use the passing game as a low-risk form of moving the ball down the field and sustaining drives.

Mike Husted is having a tough start to the 1999 season for the Raiders, missing 5 of his first 15 field goal attempts. Napoleon Kaufman has been carrying the ball less as a running back so he should be more rested to return kicks, but his production has not been at the level originally expected. Kaufman is averaging just 21.6-yards per return, which is 18th out of 21 return men with 11 or more carries in the league.