The Raiders are going to avoid 0-4 against the ‘Fins in London… right?

They looked completely horrible against the Texans two weeks ago, but looked like a team with a lot of fight last week at New England. Question is: which Oakland Raider team will show up against the Dolphins Sunday at Wembley Stadium in London?

While we don’t know what to expect in Week 4, one thing is for certain: we (media included) may have bought in to too much of the Raider hype. The film from the last three games don’t lie, whatever talent there was supposed to be in Oakland this year isn’t there.  At least, it isn’t there yet (as much of a stretch that may seem).

Although the Raiders looked like they took a giant leap forward, they still have a lot of issues to address.

And by “a lot,” I mean everything.

The biggest issue this team has is the offense’s inability to score. While quarterback Derek Carr has looked good (for the most part) in games, Oakland has just one touchdown in “non-garbage” time this year, that being Carr’s first career touchdown pass to Rod Streater in the first half against the Jets in Week 1. The Raiders haven’t led a game in the second half since Thanksgiving Day at Dallas last year and have amassed a league-low 37 points this year so far.

“This is obviously not an easy place to play,” Carr said after the loss to the Patriots. “They’re a great team, they’ve got a Hall of Fame quarterback, some Hall of Fame players on the defensive side. We put ourselves in a position to win in a tough place against a Super Bowl-type team.”

Carr led the Raiders down the field to inside the Pats 10-yard line in the final minute of the game, however his short pass to Denarius Moore went of his hands and ended up dropping into the hands of defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, sealing the Raiders loss.

Overall, Carr has played well in his first three games, completing 63 percent of his passes (68-for-108) for 588 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions.  While he’s proven he can lead his team downfield at the end of a game (three games, three drives all the way downfield, two touchdowns), he’s yet to prove that he can fully drive the Raiders offense the length of the field within the first 58 minutes of a game.

“At the moment of truth there are times when we have to be able to make some plays,” head coach Dennis Allen said. “We didn’t do that enough today and came up on the short end of the stick.”

The Raiders have the worst offense in the league — ranked 32nd in yards per game (254.3) (yes, worse than even Jacksonville), last in total points (37), last in points per game (12.3), 31st in third downs made (10) and 31st in time of possession (25:00/gm).  To add more fuel to the lackluster fire, Oakland is also ranked 30th in passing (190 ypg) and 31st in rushing (64.3 ypg).

But in order for the Raider offense to be effective, Carr can’t be the only one trying.

Both Moore and fellow wideout James Jones have combined for just 23 catches for 249 yards and two touchdowns (Jones with a team-leading 15 receptions for 189 yards an both TD’s, Moore with just eight catches for 60 yards).  Tight end Mychal Rivera is the only other player to have 10 or more catches on the team (10 rec., 73 yds).

While James Jones can be productive, the Raiders may need to utilize Denarius Moore less and give their other wideouts Andre Holmes and Brice Butler even more of a shot and see if they can help Carr spark something in the passing game.

With that said, when Moore also gets an opportunity to make a key play, whether it’s an eight-yard catch or an 80-yard catch, he has to make the play, period.

Butler just has one catch for a loss of two yards, but Holmes has six catches for 74 yards so far this season (14 more than Moore).

The running game needs to step it up also.  Big time.

Darren McFadden has run for all of just 111 yards on 34 carries through three games with a touchdown so far, averaging just over three yards per carry.  With the newly signed Raider Maurice Jones-Drew still nursing and injury, McFadden has to show he can be the featured back everyone believes he can be.

Second on the rushing list?  Derek Carr with 54 yards on the ground.

At least defensively the Raiders show promise.

Besides the nightmare of the Houston loss in Week 2, the Raiders defense held the Jets and the Pats to under 20 points, something manageable if the offense can actually be effective.

After allowing a combined 400 rushing yards in the first two weeks, they held the Pats to just 76 yards on the ground and kept Tom Brady to just 234 in the air.

Oakland’s switch defensively to the 3-4 helped hold the Pats to just 16 points, keeping backup linebackers Miles Burris and Kaluka Maiava relevant in the defense.  And by relevant, I mean useful.

Burris has shown in the past that he’s more of an inside linebacker rather than a middle linebacker while Maiava’s only (main) bad play was allowing Gronk to beat him on the crossing route for the touchdown in the second half.

Now with Burris out to a lower leg injury,

The switch over to the 3-4 also sparked Justin Tuck who found ways to level Brady (like the good ol’ Super Bowl days) while Lamarr Woodley had a bit of a homecoming in the 3-4.  Rookie linebacker Khalil Mack is also a better fit on the outside in the 3-4, allowing him to rush as a linebacker instead of dropping to the three-point stance in a 4-3.

With the Dolphins struggling themselves at 1-2, Sunday will be Oakland’s best shot to get their first win of the season, and with the bye week coming up, it’s a must-win for the Raiders.  They cannot afford to go into the bye week winless at 0-4.  Oakland needs the momentum coming out of the bye with a divisional game against San Diego in Week 6.

But let’s worry about Week 4 first.

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