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London is calling desperate Dolphins and listless Raiders

Sep 25, 2014 - 6:31 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - If it feels like it's been a while since the Oakland Raiders won, it should.

The Raiders lost their final six games of the 2013 season after a 4-6 start, and their 0-3 beginning to the 2014 schedule has put some additional urgency on this weekend's trip to Wembley Stadium to face the Miami Dolphins. Another loss would give Oakland a 0-4 start for the fifth time in franchise history.

The team is last in the league with average clips of 12.3 points and 254.3 yards per week, behind an offense being steered by rookie quarterback Derek Carr. The youngster's 74.9 passer rating is a fraction ahead of Miami's embattled Ryan Tannehill (74.1) and his yards per pass rate is also slightly better, 5.4 to 5.03. Tannehill, incidentally, may be on the verge of losing his status as the Dolphins' starter.

Carr did engineer a would-be game-tying drive in last week's 16-9 loss to New England - whom Miami beat by 13 points in Week 1 - but a touchdown run was nullified by a holding penalty and a subsequent pass bounced off the hands of a receiver and was snatched by Patriots lineman Vince Wilfork.

The Raiders had lost their first two games by a combined 21 points while yielding 400 rushing yards against the New York Jets and Houston. They gave up just 76 rush yards to the Patriots.

"We had a good chance to beat a good team on the road and it didn't happen for us," Oakland defensive end Justin Tuck said. "If we play the type of football we know we can play, we can beat anybody. It was disheartening that we didn't come out of here with the win, but it is something that we can build on.

"We've got a lot of games left to play, and that is our mindset."

A similar turnaround in their own ground game will help the cause significantly.

The Raiders have 193 yards rushing through three games, just a yard better than the worst total in the league. They had only 67 yards on the ground against New England and were again without Maurice Jones-Drew as he recovered from surgery on his right hand.

He had 11 yards on nine carries in Week 1 against the Jets, but did participate in Wednesday's practice on a limited basis. He had 75 yards on 19 carries in Jacksonville's trip to London last October.

"The hand's doing well," he said. "It's not up to me, but I feel like I'll be able to play."

As mentioned earlier, Tannehill could use the same sort of tepid endorsement.

His passer rating and yards per attempt numbers have put his status in question, and his 56.5 percent completion rate and three straight games with less than 250 pass yards haven't helped matters either. He's got just one completion of 25 or more yards, and just seven completions past 10 yards.

The Dolphins were 34-15 losers to Kansas City in Week 3 - their second straight loss since an opening-week defeat of the Patriots - and Tannehill was 21-of-43 for 205 yards.

In fact, coach Joe Philbin wouldn't even guarantee that Tannehill would start ahead of No. 2 man Matt Moore against the Raiders. Moore has started 25 NFL games in parts of seven seasons, while Tannehill has started each of the 35 games since he was selected eighth overall in the 2012 NFL Draft.

"We have to play better. The film says that," Philbin said. "That's the plan for this week. We have to play better, and we have to get better quick."

Wide receiver Mike Wallace, who's caught 17 balls for 211 yards and two scores after a 73-reception debut in Miami last season, echoed Philbin's mantra.

"Whoever coach puts out there that's who we're going to roll with and we're going to be behind him 100 percent no matter who it is," he said, "even if it's me at quarterback."

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Pound that Rock

It's unclear whether the Raiders' statistical improvement against the run last week was as much due to better performance as it was simply meeting a team with Tom Brady as a quarterback.

It'll be a truer indication this week as the Dolphins, with Lamar Miller, provide the opposition. Miller has averaged 5.8 yards per carry through three games and could go for big numbers if Oakland doesn't tighten up.

Pound that Rock, Part II

The high-profile names in the Raiders' offensive backfield - thanks to injury or ineffectiveness - haven't generated the sort of productivity that their pedigrees would indicate, or that a rookie quarterback could benefit from.

A porous offensive line hasn't helped matters, and a meeting with a moderately stout defense - Miami is 16th among 32 teams in yards allowed per rush - will be a stiff test.

OVERALL ANALYSIS

The optimism bubbling out of South Florida after the season's initial Sunday has long since transformed into dissatisfaction and quarterback controversy, so a long trip overseas might do the Dolphins some good when it comes to eliminating distractions.

The Raiders should be a canvas on which Tannehill can at least create a mojo- restoring work as Miami heads into a conveniently scheduled Week 5 bye.

Sports Network predicted outcome: Dolphins 21, Raiders 20