Dolphins Opponent Breakdown: Buffalo Bills
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The Miami Dolphins will look to get back to their winning ways and move to 9-5 on the season when they face the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium on Saturday night.
The game originally was one of five for Week 15 scheduled at TBD, and it was the one selected for the Saturday night slot on NFL Network.
The Bills will go into the game with a 10-3 record and holding the No. 1 spot in the AFC standings following their 20-12 victory against the New York Jets in Buffalo in Week 14. The Bills have won four in a row since their improbable 33-30 home loss against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 10.
To get some answers on five major questions related to the Bills, we turned to Tim Graham, who writes for The Athletic in Buffalo.
1. The Bills entered the season as overwhelming Super Bowl favorites, have not necessarily looked overly dominant for most of the season but yet here they are standing as the No. 1 seed in the AFC through Week 14, so is the level of confidence in and around Buffalo and Bills fans the same — and should it be the same?
TG: I would call it an uneasy optimism. Buffalo fans carry a lot of scar tissue that gets easily inflamed with every question mark or undesirable trend. Two of the Bills' biggest strengths entering 2022 were their passing attack and the addition of Von Miller, whose signing helped galvanize that heady this-is-our-year feeling. Hall of Fame talents simply don't sign with Buffalo teams to chase championships. So imagine how queasy Bills fans are that their offense has sputtered at times, badly enough that the front office has pulled unemployed veteran receivers John Brown and Cole Beasley out of mothballs, and Miller suffered a season-ending knee injury. But they keep winning. The offense has been good enough, and the young edge rushers have been amazingly good so far with Miller sidelined. Confidence should remain high, but they don't look nearly as good as they did in September and October.
2. Where are the Bills most vulnerable these days?
TG: Josh Allen has been getting hit a lot. Buffalo hasn't had a sack-free game since blowing out Pittsburgh on Oct. 9. Over the past six games, Allen has been sacked 17 times and hit 24 times. Run defense has improved, with tackles behind the line of scrimmage common over the past month, but ground yards have been there. Pro Bowl cornerback Tre'Davious White has returned from his reconstructed knee surgery and playing all the snaps again, which is critical because the other cornerbacks have been shaky in coverage.
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FOR EVEN MORE COVERAGE ON THE MIAMI DOLPHINS, CHECK OUT SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S MIAMI DOLPHINS PAGE ON SI.COM
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3. How would you evaluate Josh Allen's season?
TG: He's still a great player, but not as dynamic through the air over the past month and a half and that probably will cost him serious MVP consideration. He has been more of a game manager since spraining his right elbow six weeks ago, but some of that has to do with inconsistent play from targets not named Stefon Diggs. There have been several drops, most disconcertingly from Isaiah McKenzie and Gabriel Davis, the two youngsters Bills management were counting on emerge as forces this year. Despite the elbow injury, Allen didn't miss any time and hasn't shied away from contact one bit, so he's still a threat to tuck and scramble. He ran for 78 yards and a touchdown against the Lions on Thanksgiving.
4. What kind of impact has the loss Von Miller had, and how did/have the Bills compensated for his absence?
TG: If the young edge rushers keep doing what they have the past couple weeks, then the Bills will miss Miller in a leadership sense only. Hurricanes alum Greg Rousseau, A.J. Epenesa and Boogie Basham have been fabulous, as has former Dolphins veteran Shaq Lawson. They pulverized Jets quarterback Mike White on Sunday a week after chasing Patriots quarterback Mac Jones all over the field. Defensive tackle Ed Oliver is a monster who hasn't been crazy on the stat sheet but can wreck any play.
5. How did the Bills view their Week 3 loss against the Dolphins, and what, if anything, do you think they learned from it?
TG: They've thrown that game into Lake Erie. All the injuries and the oppressive heat made that game an outlier in their minds, at least. The Bills have changed so much. They've also — along with the rest of the NFL — learned so much more about the Dolphins since then. The Dolphins are a great team, and Tua has put an MVP-caliber body of work together. They won't be sneaking up on anybody down the homestretch.
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