Sunday, December 4, 2011

Dolphins dominate on third down in rout of Raiders

By Nick St. Denis

The Miami Dolphins did some work on third down Sunday.

Miami, in winning its fourth game in five tries, held the Oakland Raiders' offense to a 2-for-11 third-down conversion rate in its 34-14 victory over the Raiders. Oakland (7-5) attempted 41 passes to just 14 rushes.

 "I thought defensively we made the game one-dimensional, and that's what we wanted to do," Dolphins coach Tony Sparano told the media after the game.

On the flip side, the Dolphins (4-8) were 8-for-14 on third down when they had the ball.

The Raiders didn't have an answer for the Dolphins' run game, which was led by Reggie Bush's 100 yards. Daniel Thomas pitched in with 73 rushing yards of his own as the Dolphins gained 209 yards on the ground.

The final point-differential should have been worse, as Miami held a 34-0 lead entering the fourth quarter.

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