MIAMI – There was no subtlety or nuance involved in the Raiders' 34-14 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
"We got pushed around," Raiders coach Hue Jackson said.
The Raiders will stumble into the final quarter of the season on the heels of their most physically one-sided loss of the season, tied with the Denver Broncos atop the AFC West with a 7-5 record and heading to Green Bay to play the unbeaten Packers.
The Dolphins (4-8) showed up huge in the areas Jackson holds most dear in his campaign to "build a bully." Reggie Bush ran for 100 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries as Miami had a season-high 209 rushing yards.
"I saw a lot of space out there today," Bush said. "Our O-line really controlled the Raiders' D-line for most of the game."
The Raiders' Michael Bush, on the other hand, had just 18 yards on 10 carries as Oakland had a season-low 46 rushing yards.
Miami also scored on 48- and 33-yard field goals by Dan Carpenter, a 12-yard pass from Matt Moore to Davone Bess, a six-yard run by Moore and a 34-yard interception return by linebacker Kevin Burnett.
The final margin was deceiving, with Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer throwing garbage-time touchdown passes of 40 yards to T.J. Houshmandzadeh and three yards to Darrius Heyward-Bey in the final 7:51 after Oakland trailed 34-0.
"Today really feels like a whipping more than a loss," said Raiders safety Mike Mitchell, one of several defenders to miss clean shots at Reggie Bush throughout the afternoon before an announced crowd of 57,225 at Sun Life Stadium.
The last two drives inflated the statistics of Palmer, who was 11 of 28 for 120 yards through three quarters but 9 of 13 for 153 yards and two scores in the fourth quarter.
With Oakland unable to run, Palmer was sacked twice and knocked to the ground numerous other times. But he was also off target, particularly early, and played his worst game as a Raider other than the time he came off the bench Oct. 23 with almost no practice in a 28-0 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
"After a loss like this, there's really not much to say other than we got outplayed in every phase of the game," Palmer said. "We just got physically beat today, which is discouraging."
Although Palmer took a lot of hits, Jackson said he didn't consider removing him from the game with an insurmountable deficit despite the risk of injury.
"He needs to play," Jackson said. "I think the more reps he gets, the better he's going to be."
A week after reducing its penalties, Oakland had 10 for 91 yards and saw defensive tackle Richard Seymour ejected for a personal foul after throwing a punch at Dolphins guard Richie Incognito.
The Raiders had plenty of convenient excuses they could have used regarding the defeat, such as the cross-country travel, the distraction of Rolando McClain's midweek arrest in Alabama and continuing to play without Darren McFadden, Jacoby Ford and Denarius Moore.
But Jackson, as has been his policy after losses, blamed himself. "I didn't prepare the team as well as I can."
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