MIAMI – The Raiders were four yards away from the end zone near the end of the second quarter.

It was the closest the team had gotten to the goal line since scoring a touchdown in Baltimore on Oct. 26.

But somewhere, someone must have cued up rap artist KRS-One because from there the Raiders' offense was suddenly headed for "Self Destruction."

Two false starts by left tackle Kwame Harris and a sack of running back Darren McFadden on a halfback pass attempt pushed the ball back to the 19-yard line.

Then the Raiders did what they do best on offense these days – settle for a Sebastian Janikowski field goal.

That sequence summed up yet another frustrating day for the Raiders in a 17-15 loss to the Miami Dolphins at Dolphin Stadium.

So with the Raiders failing to score an offensive touchdown in 13 quarters, they found other ways to score.

Defensive end Jay Richardson sacked Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington in the end zone to cut Miami's lead to 7-5 in the third quarter.

Johnnie Lee Higgins returned a punt 93 yards to give Oakland a 15-14 lead with 4:30 left in the game.

The Dolphins, however, scored on a 61-yard drive when they got the ball back despite a chance for the Raiders' defense to win the game.

With Miami facing fourth and five after the two-minute warning, Pennington found Ted Ginn for a seven-yard gain, keeping the drive alive and moving the ball to the Raiders' 28.

Three running plays later, Dan Carpenter kicked a 38-yard field goal with 38 seconds left to give Miami its fourth consecutive victory.

"Make one more play there and we win that football game," said interim head coach Tom Cable, whose record fell to 1-5 since taking over for Lane Kiffin on Sept. 30. "That's pro football. It's always that close."

The Raiders (2-8) allowed six sacks against the Dolphins' (6-4) pass rush, and the offensive line was responsible for four false starts in the first half.

Right guard Cooper Carlisle and right tackle Cornell Green were each flagged for a false start as pre-snap penalties continue to dog the Raiders.

And though he wasn't the only offender, Harris' penalties very well might cost him his starting job.

He was benched in favor of Mario Henderson in the second half. Harris entered the game with seven false starts, tied for most in the NFL.

"A few guys had their hand in (false starts)," Cable said. "But at that point (with Harris) it was just enough is enough, so I made the switch. I thought Mario did a nice job in the second half."

Harris said he was surprised that he didn't play the rest of the game and that he wasn't given any explanation.

"(Cable) just said Mario was taking over the rest of the game," Harris said.

Harris' two false starts weren't the only thing that was frustrating about the Raiders' offense when they reached Miami's 4-yard line.

With the Raiders starved for ways to score, Cable opted to have McFadden try to throw a pass to fullback Luke Lawton.

But as McFadden rolled out to his right, Lawton was caught up among Dolphins defenders, and McFadden had nowhere to throw.

"I was trying to give him enough time to get out there and I held on to it too long," said McFadden, who slammed the ball to the turf in anger but didn't draw a penalty because he was out of bounds.

"I knew I should have threw the ball away," McFadden. "It was frustrating because I lost the yards."

The sack for a loss of five yards was followed by Harris' second false start.

Quarterback JaMarcus Russell connected with tight end Zach Miller to get down to the 3 on third and goal from the 19.

Janikowski kicked the 21-yard field goal, and the offense didn't get another sniff of the goal line.

Russell completed 15 of 22 passes for 156 yards. But the Raiders managed only 186 yards of total offense in Cable's second game calling plays, the second-lowest total of the season.

Cable is realizing scoring with the Raiders' personnel isn't easy. The offense has only two touchdowns in his six games as head coach.

"I think it's harder than I thought in some ways, but we have to make plays and I have to do a better job of getting them in a better position," Cable said.

And then hope the team doesn't self-destruct.

Read Jason Jones' Raiders blog at www.sacbee.com/raidersblog.