It’s hard to imagine a worse road trip for the Raiders.
Oakland suffered a 38-14 loss to the Miami Dolphins in London Sunday to drop to 0-4 this season, while also losing quarterback Derek Carr to injury. This, after losing a winnable game to the Patriots last Sunday on the first leg of this New England-to-England trek.
At this point, the Raiders defense appears to be helpless and the only real questions Oakland now faces are:
* When will they secure the right to the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft?
* When will Dennis Allen be fired as head coach?
After beginning the game with a beautiful touchdown drive, led by Carr and culminated with the rookie’s 3-yard scoring pass to tight end Brian Leonhardt, it was all downhill for the Raiders in what was certainly not Jolly Old England for the silver-and-black bunch.
Miami pounded out a 24-7 halftime lead, causing Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle to tweet: “This better be the best halftime speech or adjustments of Dennis Allen’s coaching career.”
Sports
Judging by the results, Allen’s halftime performance rated an F.
The Dolphins quickly added a TD in the third quarter, then picked up another one shortly after Carr had to leave after suffering what appeared to be a knee or ankle injury while scrambling. On the second play with No. 3 QB Matt McGloin at the controls (No. 2 Matt Schaub stayed in the States because of a family matter), a bad snap led to a 50-yard fumble return for a Dolphins touchdown to allow Miami to take a 38-7 lead entering the fourth quarter.
As of now, it appears the only non-loseable game on the Raiders schedule is next Sunday’s “bye.” After what appeared to be an excellent draft and a re-stocking of the roster with a free-agent spending spree, the Raiders have played worse than they did in 2013 and 2012 when they finished 4-12.
Tweeted one viewer during Sunday’s game: “I think it’s a very real possibility that the Oakland Raiders are going to win 0 games this year. Holy cow are they bad.” Wrote another: “It’s time to fire Allen. This is getting out of hand. This was his year to prove he could coach. He can’t. #FireDennisAllen”
As Josh Dubow of the Associated Press noted, the Raiders now have nine losses of 20 or more points in the 36 games of Allen’s tenure with just eight wins.
If the Raiders decide to make a coaching change, this week might be the time. With a bye week, a new coach would at least get a few extra days to prepare for the team’s next opportunity on Oct. 12th when the Chargers visit O.co Coliseum.
