Miami Dolphins Week 3 offensive snap counts versus Raiders

The Miami Dolphins beat the Oakland Raiders on Sunday to move to 3-0 on the year and two games into the lead of the AFC East. To get an idea of how they did it, we will continue our weekly look at the snap counts played by each player on the offense and defense. This morning, we start with the offense.

Last week, the snap counts were not published - mostly because I simply forgot to do them. The snap counts below include the Week 2 counts for the season totals.

No surprise here. Ryan Tannehill took every snap as he and the offense battled through some early game struggles before they were able to start finding some rhythm and come back to win the game. Tannehill now has a 121.8 passer rating this year, fourth in the league, and he is playing at an elite level right now. Can he continue it through the rest of the season?

This was painful against the Raiders. Kenyan Drake and Frank Gore had been running whenever and where ever they wanted early in the season, but they hit a wall against the Raiders. The running backs were able to pick up 15 total yards on the day. Miami needs them to have bigger days when they face the New England Patriots this week, and throughout the year, as the offense works best when the play-action passing game is effective, and on Sunday, it was not.

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Speed kills, and that is what the Dolphins did to the Raiders on Sunday. The shovel passes from Tannehill add to his passing totals, but those were all about Jakeem Grant and Albert Wilson, including the 74-yard touchdown by Wilson. The Dolphins abused the Raiders late with that speed, and with the Patriots looking slow early this season, Miami should be attacking with the speed plays again this upcoming week.

DeVante Parker being back in the lineup is a good thing for Miami. He gives them a different type of target, and he is the perfect compliment to the speed options, not that he is slow, but he also provides that big body across the middle or down the sidelines that draws coverage away from the speed receivers. He played 75 percent of the snaps, and that feels about where he will be the rest of the year.

Grant only playing nine snaps was a surprise. That is probably in part as the team adjusted to Parker’s being back on the field, but hopefully the team will look to find ways to get Grant on the field more.

A.J. Derby was injured during the game (foot), which increased the role of Mike Gesicki, who had his best day as a professional so far. Gesicki’s role should continue to grow throughout the season. Rookie tight ends do not typically breakout, but Gesicki should have a game or two that shows what he will be in the next few years.

The offensive line is about what you would expect. The five starters, Laremy Tunsil, Ted Larsen, Daniel Kilgore, Jesse Davis, and Ja’Wuan James played every snap, while Sam Young came in on one play as a sixth offensive lineman. The offensive line needs to do better, especially against the run, as they continue to adjust to Larsen in the lineup instead of Josh Sitton, who is on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.