Tannehill had been struggling with an offense imported by offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, who was an Eagles assistant last season. Miami coach Joe Philbin declined to even name a starter for the Raiders game until Tannehill told the media it would be his game to start.
"I mean, it looked a lot like the Eagles, and it was the same thing last year," Raiders free safety Charles Woodson said. "We've got to find a way to beat the damn Eagles, I guess."
The Dolphins operated an up-tempo offense that falls short of a two-minute drill but keeps up enough pressure to leave the defense off-balance and unable to force the action.
"It wasn't really the tempo," Raiders coach Dennis Allen said. "They do a job schematically of making you spread out and making you make tackles in space, and we didn't do enough of that today."
The Raiders appeared confused on a couple of occasions when the Dolphins bunched three receivers to one side, a relatively common practice. The Raiders reacted by putting two defenders to that side.
"There were some times where we weren't lined up correctly and you've got to put that on the players, to execute what's called on the field," Woodson said. "That's our job, whatever they throw at you, to get yourself lined up. That part of it I'm not going to put on the coach."
Rookie linebacker Khalil Mack said, "We didn't play up to our capability. We knew what they were going to do in the game plan, and just didn't execute ... this definitely is a hit in the chin, but you want to bounce back from it."
