Beating the Bills Sets a Path for Greatness
While this game isn’t a must-win for the Phins, but it sure would say a ton!
The Miami Dolphins are traveling up to Buffalo to face the Bills in Week 4 in a huge showdown for the AFC East with a shot to put themselves on track for a special season. It’s a critical and almost pivotal game for the Bills, so I don’t see any scenario where the Phins can be ‘losers’ coming out of this game. The pressure is on the Bills who are one game back in the division race to defend their home turf.
Phins vs. Bills for sole possession of AFC East!
The Dolphins proved with the Bolts and Broncos that they will destroy you with speed if you make a mistake. The Bills are a much better team on offense and defense than either of them, but Miami was three points away from shocking the Bills in their house in last season’s Wildcard game. So, we proved we can challenge them even if injured and this 2023 team looks much better than the 2022 team.
The Bills though will be without edge Von Miller and safety Jordan Poyer, which will hurt them in their efforts to slow this blazing Dolphins offense. Still, defensive tackle Ed Oliver is leading the league’s interior rushers with 15 pressures. This is why the presence or absence of center Connor Williams is critical. Connor Williams being availability is huge because Liam Eichenberg getting his first full game at center in Buffalo doesn’t feel like a winning situation. So, it’s a wait-and-see if Connor starts or not. I’m going to stay hopeful and believe he will get the start.
There’s a lot of unknown with this Bills team who have moved to a far more aggressive defense than we are used to seeing, but they lack speed in the secondary. So, if they don’t get to Tua enough, it could be like what we saw with the Chargers with a lights-out day on offense.
This would be big for the Dolphins because Tua has struggled against the Bills defense posting a 53.3 passer rating, a middle-of-the-road 4 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, with a 1-3 record.
If Tua can have a breakout game against the Bills, then it could be a long day for Buffalo.
The Miami defense & offense must play their best to notch the win
Josh Allen has been a Dolphins killer for the most part. Allen has an 11-game win streak at home against Miami with 2+ passing TDS. That is an NFL record for a QB against a specific Team. This is where Vic Fangio and the defense must come in and step up their game.
For years, the Dolphins have brought tons of pressure on Allen. Last year he was under an almost 50% pressure rate. This though isn’t Fangio’s style. How will Allen respond to a more zone-heavy defense? It sure does hurt that Jaelen Phillips will miss this game with an oblique injury.
This Dolphins’ defense must limit Allen and their quality group of runners, most notably James Cook who is a burner and can hurt you with his moves and speed. Cook is averaging 6.1 YPC and Latavius Murray and Damien Harris are excellent in support. Then there is also Allen who can hurt you on the ground and through the air. Miami can’t let Buffalo run the football because it would keep the Dolphins’ potent offense on the sideline.
Fangio and this Dolphins’ defense need to slow the Bills offense so the Miami offense can get the lead and put the pressure on Allen, who has shown a history of making mistakes when the heat is on. Allen can also shine in those moments as well, but the pressure for this game is very high, so it could be a good bet with the best pay-per-head that Allen could end up going the other way.
While this is an almost useless stat, the team that scored 60 plus points are 1 and 6 the following week.
But, if the Dolphins can buck this history and the history against the Bills in Buffalo, the Phins will be the #1 team in the AFC East and the AFC conference heading into Week 5! Wouldn’t that be an amazing day for us long-suffering Dolphins fans to go up and take this game?
What are the rest of the Miami Dolphins News fans thinking about Miami’s chances of beating the Bills in Buffalo?
It’s a tough task at best but they can do it. One thing I would like to warn the coach is when you have the opportunity to do is is pick up a credible back-up QB. I mean someone that can play in a pinch and not throw interceptions. Maybe someone like Cousins. Just in case Tua goes down with an injury, it could easily happen/
It’s hard at this stage… and really no one we can get will drive the offense like Tua… the move to get WR Claypool was nice one kid could be big for us… and help Skylar or White should Tua go down, Theodore.