The first Sunday of the 2026 NFL season gives both teams a problem to solve.
For the Miami Dolphins, the path to a Week 1 win in Las Vegas runs straight at a Raiders defensive front that was one of the league’s most vulnerable units a year ago. For the Raiders, the opening-night challenge is more specific: Brock Bowers is out, and Klint Kubiak may need Connor Heyward to help fill the void.
That makes Sunday’s game at 4:25 p.m. ET less like a standard opener and more like a test of which adjustment matters more.
Miami’s case starts with the matchup in the trenches. The Dolphins are expected to lean on an interior line that is supposed to be one of their strengths this season, with Aaron Brewer and first-round rookie Kadyn Proctor highlighted up front. That matters against a Raiders defense that finished 25th in points allowed last season, giving up 25.4 points per game, and allowed the seventh-most points in the NFL overall.
The Raiders’ defensive line is the obvious target. If Miami can control the middle, the Dolphins can force Las Vegas to defend on Miami’s terms rather than its own. That is why Sunday is being framed as one of Miami’s best chances for a win.
Las Vegas has its own issue, and it is not a small one.
Bowers will miss the game with a knee injury and is out in the early part of the season, leaving the Raiders without the tight end who was one of their most productive players last year. He posted 680 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in just 12 games, and those 680 yards were only 16 shy of the team lead. As a rookie in 2024, he had 1,194 receiving yards, which is part of the reason his absence changes the shape of the offense rather than just removing one target.
That is where Heyward enters the picture. The Raiders signed him in the offseason with the expectation that he would play fullback, and he is expected to lead the way in Kubiak’s offense in that role. His job is less about replacing Bowers’ production directly than helping the offense function without him: paving lanes for running backs and handling pass protection.
Heyward’s career numbers show the scale of the ask. He has 384 receiving yards and three total touchdowns, and with Bowers sidelined for a potentially significant amount of time, he could become a bigger factor in the offense. That does not make him Bowers. It does, however, make him part of the Raiders’ answer.
The contrast is what gives the opener its edge. Miami is trying to attack a defense that already spent last season near the bottom of the league. Las Vegas is trying to rework its offense without one of its most efficient playmakers. One side is looking to expose a weakness; the other is trying to keep a missing piece from becoming the story.
The Raiders did finish 3–14 last season, a record that underscored how much work remains even with some improvement on paper. Maxx Crosby is listed as active for Week 1, but the larger question for Las Vegas is whether the offense can stay balanced enough without Bowers to make Miami pay for loading up against the run.
That is the tension to watch in Sin City: whether the Dolphins’ interior push becomes the defining force, or whether the Raiders’ response to Bowers’ absence keeps the opener from tilting early.