Miami Dolphins: Jay Cutler, offense show signs of life in latest loss to Oakland Raiders

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- The Miami Dolphins, who fell 27-24 to the Oakland Raiders on Sunday night, clearly are not ready for prime time.

Miami (4-4) lost 40-0 to the Baltimore Ravens in its previous game, on a Thursday night. And the Dolphins get their third and final prime-time slot in their next game, Nov. 13 at the Carolina Panthers.

On Sunday night, Miami quarterback Jay Cutler returned from a one-game absence due to cracked ribs and looked solid, completing 32 of 44 passes for 311 yards and three touchdowns.

Cutler came out hot, completing his first 16 passes before misfiring on a ball that was batted down at the line of scrimmage.

"We all know this is something Jay can do," Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry said of Cutler's big night. "It felt good to have him back out there."

To be fair, Cutler threw mostly short passes until the last drive, when he padded his stats a bit with Miami trailing by 11 points in the waning minutes.

"They were playing soft zones against us," Cutler said.

Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio did not disagree.

"We definitely didn't want him to go over the top of us," Del Rio said. "(Cutler) was patient. We didn't hit him as much as I would've liked. Part of that is that he had some throws available, and he was taking them.

"The bottom line was to keep the point total down, and we did that for the most part."

Oakland (4-5) certainly did enough to collect just its second win in the past seven games.

However, Miami, on the week when it traded Pro-Bowl running back Jay Ajayi to the Philadelphia Eagles for a conditional fourth-round draft pick, also came away with some positives.

Kenyan Drake ran nine times for 69 yards, averaging 7.7. He broke a 42-yarder to account for most of his total. He also had six catches for 35 yards.

Damien Williams, the other running back who inherited more touches due to the Ajayi trade, ran seven times for just 14 yards. He contributed in the passing game, though, making six receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown.

"These guys did everything they could to make this offense go," Landry said of Drake and Williams. "They put us in the best position to win."

Except, of course, the Dolphins didn't win, and their season is now half over.