Miami Dolphins vs. Buffalo Bills: Complete Week 2 Preview for Miami
The Miami Dolphins have energized their fanbase in a way that hasn't been seen in years thanks to a 33-20 victory over the New England Patriots in Week 1, but the Buffalo Bills—also 1-0 thanks to an overtime victory in Chicago over the Bears—are just as energized heading into a Week 2 battle between the two AFC East rivals.
Miami's offensive line, which was superb against New England, will face a major challenge against an aggressive Buffalo front seven. That same group for Buffalo was single-handidly responsible for Miami's two losses against the Bills last season and produced plenty of pressure against the Bears last week.
With both teams looking strong after Week 1 victories, the Dolphins know that their passing game must improve upon its performance in the season opener, sentiments echoed by offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, as noted by Andrew Abramson of The Palm Beach Post:
"My number one feeling is that we better get better fast, particularly in the passing game. I feel like there were a lot of plays that we should have made and didn’t make. Some might have been the throw or the decision. Some were the drop. I think a lot of them were easy to see if you were watching the game on TV and so I don’t think that’s a surprise.
We are going to have to be more productive in the passing game when the plays are there. They were there and we didn’t make them. It’s going to be a real clear message that we’ve got to get better.
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It's early, but after Miami's victory over New England, the AFC East looks like it will be a wide-open race, and with a victory over the Bills on Sunday, the Dolphins will move not only to 2-0 on the season, but 2-0 in the division, giving them the early pole position in the race for a division title.
Miami Dolphins Week 1 Recap
1 of 5The Dolphins surprised the NFL with their 33-20 victory over the Patriots in Week 1. It wasn't so much the fact that the Dolphins defeated the Patriots (traditionally the Patriots have struggled in Miami), but how it was done.
The Dolphins had the proverbial first half from hell, a first half that included two fumbles (one by Mike Wallace, the other by Lamar Miller) and a poorly-thrown Ryan Tannehill interception. Heading into halftime, the Dolphins were down 20-10, with many Dolphins fans bracing for a blowout in the second half.
They got that blowout, only it went the opposite of everyone's expectations. Miami strung together 23 unanswered points in the final 30 minutes of the game, led by a running game that had chewed up the field in a way the Dolphins haven't seen since the hey-day of Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, and more importantly, a defense that made Tom Brady sweat in the pocket.
Brady was sacked four times, with two of those sacks resulting in fumbles that Miami would eventually turn into points. The rest of the time, he was surrounded by a sea of white, thrashing their way through a weakened Patriots offensive line.
It was Miami's best performance in quite a long time, but against the Bills, it means nothing. New England and Buffalo are two completely different teams in terms of philosophy and personnel, and Buffalo is a team that presents matchups that are less advantageous to Miami, due to having a much better running game and a much better defensive line than New England.
Both teams are riding high in terms of momentum after Week 1 victories over teams that were expected to be much better than they were, the question is, who can seize upon the momentum from Week 1 and show some carry-over?
News and Notes
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Two Dolphins Win Awards for Performance Against New England
When you defeat Brady, Belichick and the Patriots in a convincing manner, the praise tends to come your way fairly strong.
Praise from the NFL and its fans came to Cameron Wake and Knowshon Moreno, Miami's two MVPs in the team's Week 1 win over New England.
Wake won the AFC Defensive Player of The Week, per Alain Poupart of MiamiDolphins.com. His performance was certainly deserving of the award, as he had two sacks, both of which caused fumbles.
On the other side of the ball, Knowshon Moreno won the FedEx Ground Player of The Week, an award voted on by fans. Amassing 134 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries and effectively carrying an offense through the second half of an impressive victory will win you such an honor.
It would be unfair to expect both players to give a repeat performance against the Bills, however if they do, Miami should be on its way to 2-0.
Dolphins Linemen Embrace Challenge Posed by the Bills Defensive Line
We're going to focus more on this matchup later in the slideshow, as the matchup between the Dolphins' offensive line and Buffalo's defensive line will be the key matchup on Sunday.
According to Adam H. Beasley of The Miami Herald, it's a challenge that rookie Ja'Wuan James is looking forward to.
Asked about whether the Dolphins would slide a tight end over to his side to help him with the pass rush, James replied, "Coach [Bill] Lazor is going to call the offense how he's going to call it. We're in the business of getting yards and scoring points. We're not out here trying to max protect."
His head coach, Joe Philbin, echoed that statement:
"I think the foundation, the way we teach pass protection is one player blocking one player. I think that's the foundation of pass protection. Certainly we have all different ways to help...but at the end of the day, if you're going to play in the National Football League, you better be able to pass block one-on-one.
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Don't be too surprised if on some plays you see a tight end on James' side, as well as the possibility of Gator Hoskins or Dion Sims in the backfield to help Miami's pass protection against Buffalo. In the end though, it will come down to one-on-one matchups.
Philip Wheeler Set to Play on Sunday
Miami's linebacking unit is currently a M*A*S*H* unit: Dannell Ellerbee suffered a season-ending hip injury, Koa Misi is dealing with an ankle issue and Jordan Tripp and Chris McCain are also battling through injuries.
Said linebacker injuries are the reason why Miami played out of a 5-2 formation against New England that saw them with three defensive tackles and two defensive ends, and the formation worked well.
Miami might not have to resort to that on Sunday though, as The Miami Herald's Armando Salguero reports that Philip Wheeler will play on Sunday.
Wheeler missed Miami's first game against New England with a thumb injury suffered during the preseason.
I've taken plenty of knocks at Wheeler for his poor play since joining the Dolphins, but he appears to be getting healthier, which can only help. The question is, has his performance against the run, his biggest issue in 2013, improved? It will have to against the Bills running game.
One of the reasons why Miami's 5-2 alignment worked so well against the Patriots is because of New England's struggles to run the ball and its overreliance on short passes. The Pats's short passing game couldn't get untracked in the second half in part due to the coverage of Jelani Jenkins on Shane Vereen.
Buffalo will be able to run the ball though, and if Bills backs C.J. Spiller or Fred Jackson get through the defensive line, the Wheeler and his fellow Miami linebackers have to step up and secure tackles.
Is Wheeler up for the job in his first game back? He better be.
Injury Report
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| Player | Position | Injury Status |
| Walt Aikens | Cornerback | Probable |
| Charles Clay | Tight End | Probable |
| Terrence Fede | Defensive End | Out |
| Chris McCain | Linebacker | Probable |
| Koa Misi | Linebacker | Doubtful |
| Knowshon Moreno | Running Back | Probable |
| Mike Pouncey | Center | Out |
| Derrick Shelby | Defensive End | Probable |
| Dion Sims | Tight End | Probable |
| Randy Starks | Defensive Tackle | Probable |
| Jordan Tripp | Linebacker | Out |
| Billy Turner | Guard | Doubtful |
| Mike Wallace | Wide Receiver | Probable |
| Philip Wheeler | Linebacker | Probable |
All injury statuses are from MiamiDolphins.com as of Saturday Morning 9/13/2014, and will continue to be updated up until game time.
For it only being Week 2, this is one banged up football team.
It's likely that you will see everyone listed as "probable" suiting up for the Dolphins on Sunday. I'd be a tad concerned with Knowshon Moreno and Charles Clay's injuries though, as those two will likely be the lifeblood of the Dolphins' offense.
As for the linebackers, Chris McCain will play, while Philip Wheeler was discussed in an earlier slide. There were some doubts about Randy Starks (the most needed player on defense) earlier this week as Omar Kelly reported that Starks had a boot on his left foot due to turf toe.
Turf toe can be a recurring injury, however Starks has had yet to miss a game since joining the Dolphins in 2008, however being listed as probable means there's a chance that Starks will be a go at game time for the next two weeks, while sitting out practices.
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X-Factors and Matchups to Watch
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Miami's Linebackers vs. Buffalo's Running Game
This is the key matchup for the Dolphins defense, as the Bills will attempt to steamroll the Dolphins on the ground.
It's the prototypical battle of one team's strength suited to exploit one team's weakness.
The Dolphins lined up with only two linebackers on some plays against the Patriots, but you can afford to do that assuming two things: that the opposing team's run game is weak and your the linebackers can play well in pass coverage.
Against the Bills, one of those things do not apply. There's nothing weak about Buffalo's running game. It's the strength of its offense and what its offense is built around.
If effective, the running game sets up EJ Manuel to find his receivers, such as Sammy Watkins, who expects to be a matchup problem against Miami's secondary. This is why the Dolphins linebackers have to be a force in stopping the run.
Miami's defensive line can stop the run, but from time to time, talented backs like Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller do seep through the first line of defense. The linebackers have to step up into the holes and take proper angles to ensure that Buffalo's backs don't turn a short gain into a big run.
Buffalo's Secondary vs. Miami's Wide Receivers
This is a matchup that should favor greatly the Dolphins' wide receivers.
Buffalo doesn't have anyone who can cover Mike Wallace, the fastest man on the field when Miami is on offense. Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor will have to show the same imagination we've seen from him so far in order to get Wallace in space, where the wideout can torment not only Buffalo's weak secondary but its banged-up linebacker unit as well.
Buffalo's Defensive Line vs. Miami's Offensive Line
This was the matchup that won the Bills both games between the two teams in 2013, so of course, it's the most important matchup of the contest.
Buffalo's defensive line is as aggressive and nasty as ever and made Jay Cutler and the Bears offensive line work for everything in Week 1. The Bills harassed Jay Cutler into two interceptions and two sacks. But it's interesting to note that the Bills had as many sacks on Cutler as Cameron Wake alone had on Tom Brady.
In terms of Buffalo's run defense against Chicago, Matt Forte was "limited" to 82 yards on 17 carried, but the Bears were playing catch-up throughout the second half and forced to abandon the ground game. Forte still averaged 4.8 yards per carry.
Then there's this point: In last season's first game between the two teams, Miami ran the ball extremely well against the Bills, averaging 4.8 yards per carry on 25 attempts. Miami's leading rusher was Daniel Thomas, who averaged five yards per carry.
However, let's go back to the vault to see the gory details I wrote about in that game:
"Here's where this coaching staff messed up: They abandoned a run game that gained 120 yards on 25 carries for an average of 4.8 yards per carry in the final two drives.
If on Miami's second-to-last drive they run the ball for no gain on each of the three downs and punt, then they either run two minutes off the clock (assuming they let each play run down until the play clock hits one) or force the Bills to call all three of their timeouts while pinning them back in their own territory.
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Ladies and gentlemen...the Mike Sherman era. Thank God it's over.
It's also worth noting that the Dolphins ran the ball successfully against Buffalo despite being saddled with last year's horrendous offensive line.
This season, Miami's offensive line appears to be significantly improved, and Miami has a better man calling the plays.
X-Factor: Ryan Tannehill
In the end, it's on Ryan Tannehill's shoulders to win or lose the game for Miami.
He can't afford a performance like last week. Coming from behind at home is one thing, but it's a much more difficult challenge to come from behind on the road in a hostile environment. Tannehill has had mixed results playing on the road in his NFL career.
The question is, which Tannehill will show up on Sunday? If the Dolphins get the good Tannehill, they get a win.
If not, it's going to be a long afternoon.
Prediction
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Before I get to the prediction, feel free to click on this link where I explain the four reasons why the Dolphins will beat the Bills. In that piece I don't say the Dolphins will beat the Bills, I just analyze why it could happen.
Welcome back. To summarize, the Dolphins can beat the Bills because their passing game can pick on Buffalo's secondary and linebackers. Miami's offensive line is improved over last season, so the Dolphins ground game is strong. And let's not forget that, at this juncture, Ryan Tannehill is a better quarterback than EJ Manuel.
Now here's the part where I tell you that there's a good chance that none of that matters.
Ignored in the NFL's week of horrible news has been a great story, one that should make everyone happy.
The Bills are staying in Buffalo.
I'm happy about this because the Miami Dolphins versus Toronto Bills just sounds repulsively wrong on every level. I'm certainly not against progress, but I also love tradition, especially when it comes to football. I love these AFC East rivalries, and it's the cities in which these teams are located that offer the rivalries some bite.
For example, up until the Colts left Baltimore for Indianapolis, you could make a great argument that they were Miami's top AFC East rival, due mainly to Don Shula leaving the Colts for the Dolphins after the 1969 season and the fact that Miami beat the Colts for its first ever AFC title.
That meant something until the Mayflower trucks loaded up in the middle of the night and went to Indianapolis. Now, the Colts are in a totally different division, and the only real rivalry between the two teams is the possibility (and hope) of Andrew Luck squaring off against Ryan Tannehill in a meaningful game.
I don't like seeing all tradition killed off, when it's preserved, it's a beautiful thing.
The Bills also have a great fanbase, one certainly undeserving of losing its team. What Buffalo fans do deserve is the happiness they now are feeling carry over into Sunday.
It's going to be emotional game for the Bills. In addition to the fact that it's their home opener against a hated division rival—Buffalo fans hate the Dolphins a lot more than you think—Jim Kelly will be there, which comes not long after the news that the former Bills great is free of cancer.
Between the Bills staying in Buffalo, and Kelly's uplifting news, you have a beautiful story going on in Western New York, which is why I'm a bit scared for the Dolphins and have flip-flopped over this pick all week.
In the end, I'm going to have to quote great 21st Century philosopher Kanye West for this one.
"Ay-Yo Buffalo, I'm really happy for you, and I'm a-let you finish, but..."
Prediction: Dolphins 24, Bills 17.
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