The Dolphins and December in Buffalo
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In case you haven't heard, the Miami Dolphins are playing at Buffalo on Saturday night and their Week 15 matchup might involve some traditional winter weather.
Yes, it's been a big topic of conversation throughout the week, maybe even overshadowing the magnitude of a matchup that could end up deciding the AFC East title.
The potential weather elements — the current AccuWeather forecast suggests it will be "very cold" with a good chance of snow — have made this kind of the Bills' revenge for the Week 3 matchup at Hard Rock Stadium when the teams played in sweltering heat, made worse for the Bills because of the design of the stadium which provides shade on the home sideline during September afternoons but not on the visiting side.
Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa both downplayed the elements when they addressed the media Wednesday, as they absolutely should have done because teams that have Super Bowl aspirations have to be able to win in all kinds of conditions.
This game at Highmark Stadium on Saturday night will mark the fifth time in seven seasons the Dolphins play at Buffalo beyond Dec. 1 and they're riding a three-game losing streak in such contests.
Taking literary license here, the last last-season visit to Buffalo for the Dolphins actually came Jan. 3, 2021, but we'll group this regular season finale with December games because it's a winter game.
That game did not end well for the Dolphins, who needed a win to get into the playoffs and were facing a team whose playoff seeding already had been determined. The Dolphins were blown out 56-26 that day in a game they led 3-0 after the first quarter before the Bills scored 28 second-quarter points.
Tua Tagovailoa passed for 361 yards in that game, but was picked off three times and wasn't helped by a slew of dropped passes by teammates.
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THE DOLPHINS' DECEMBER BUFFALO GAME HIGHLIGHTS
Maybe it's not a coincidence that the last Dolphins team to make the playoffs was able to win at Buffalo in December.
That happened in 2016 when Jay Ajayi had his third 200-yard game of the season (second against the Bills) and the Dolphins were able to outlast Buffalo, 34-31, in overtime after Andrew Franks made a 55-yard field goal at the end of regulation.
The last time the Dolphins won the AFC East title (2008), they also won a road game against Buffalo in December — but that one was played indoors at Rogers Centre in Toronto, so it doesn't count.
But the previous time the Dolphins won the division (2000), they did win at Buffalo in December, routing the Bills 33-6.
RICKY, REGGIE AND AJAYI
One way to combat the elements in winter weather is to run the ball, and the Dolphins have had great success at times doing that at Buffalo.
In one of the strangest statistical twists in franchise history, it just so happens that three of the Dolphins' six 200-yard individual rushing performances in the regular season have come in December games at Buffalo.
The franchise record for rushing yards in a game is 228, and Ricky Williams set that record at Buffalo on Dec. 1, 2002 — in a game the Dolphins lost, 38-21.
Then there was the aforementioned Dec. 24, 2016 game when Ajayi rushed for 206 yards, a little more than two months after rushing for 206 yards in the first Dolphins-Bills matchup of the season.
Finally, Reggie Bush gained 203 yards on the ground Dec. 18, 2011 when the Dolphins left Buffalo with a 30-23 victory.
For the record, the other two 200-yard individual rushing performances were by Ricky Williams at home against Chicago in 2002 and by Ajayi at home against Pittsburgh in that 2016 season.
THE DOLPHINS' DECEMBER HISTORY AT BUFFALO
As division rivals from the time the Dolphins started playing in the AFL in 1966, the teams have faced each other twice every season for 56 years (this is the 57th).
Strangely enough, the teams never faced each other in Buffalo in December until 1990.
In the teams' first 24 meetings in Buffalo, 10 were played in September and November, and four were played in October. During that time, the teams faced each other in December in Miami seven times.
Here's the rundown of Dolphins games in Buffalo in December:
1990 — Bills 24, Dolphins 14
1995 — Bills 23, Dolphins 20
2000 — Dolphins 33, Bills 6
2002 — Bills 38, Dolphins 21
2003 — Dolphins 20, Bills 3
2006 — Bills 21, Dolphins 0
2007 — Bills 38, Dolphins 17
2011 — Dolphins 30, Bills 23
2013 — Bills 19, Dolphins 0
2016 — Dolphins 34, Bills 31 (OT)
2017 — Bills 24, Dolphins 16
2018 — Bills 42, Dolphins 17
2020* — Bills 56, Dolphins 26
*-game actually was played Jan. 3, 2021
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