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Jay Cutler returned from cracked ribs... completed his first 16 passes, but his strong individual performance wasn't enough.
Welcome to the Miami Sports Weekly Rundown, I'm David Baumann.
After a great 4-2 start to the season, the Miami Dolphins now have reason to panic.
Of course, they'll say they're not panicking, but those are just empty words.
Back-to-back losses against the mediocre Baltimore Ravens and ice-cold Oakland Raiders (losers in five of their last six games before Sunday) have knocked the 'Fins down to third in the AFC East Standings with a 4-4 record.
Jay Cutler And Miami Dolphins Clam Up Against The Oakland Raiders
While Cutler's numbers looked great on paper (34/42, 311 YDS, 3 TD, 0 INT), the Dolphins still struggled to light up the scoreboard against the Raiders.
It was their first game without running back Jay Ajayi, who was traded earlier this week to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for a bag of peanuts (and a 4th-round pick).
In Ajayi's absence, Damien Williams didn't do much on the ground in his first start (7 carries, 14 yards), but he did catch 6 passes out of the backfield for 47 yards and a touchdown.
And Kenyon Drake rushed 9 times for 69 yards and caught 6 balls for 35 yards. Decent stats, but he lost a fumble in Raiders territory.
The Raiders quickly capitalized off that turnover, getting a 44-yard touchdown pass by Derek Carr to Johnny Holton before the end of the first half.
Miami, the lowest scoring team in the NFL (at 13.1 PPG entering Sunday) posted a late fourth-quarter touchdown to make it seem competitive at 27-24, but it was too little, too late.
Both the Dolphins defense and special teams got roughed up in the loss.
Dolphins Hall-of-Famer-turned-analyst Jason Taylor summed the performance up perfectly, saying the Dolphins took "One step forward, two steps back."
And the schedule is about to get tougher.
Up next, Miami visits the 6-3 Carolina Panthers for a Monday Night Football Showdown.
Carolina will be the hands-down favorite to win.
But if the 'Fins can pull the upset on the road, they'll then get a winnable matchup against the Tampa Bay Bucs before meeting the Patiots, Broncos and Patriots again.
Should the Dolphins lose next Monday, things could unravel quickly.
Then it'll be full-blown panic mode.
David Baumann is a Sports Columnist for 305area.com and can be heard Tuesdays on EK Sports from 7-9pm on 96.9 The Game FM on iHeartRadio.
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