Buffalo Bills Continue to Look Like AFC Contenders After Thrashing Dolphins

In two straight years, the Buffalo Bills have started the season 2-1. This year, the team accomplished that feat in much more impressive fashion than in 2014.

The Bills beat the Indianapolis Colts—preseason favorites to make the Super Bowl, per NFL.com—and then thrashed the Miami Dolphins 41-14—on the road nonetheless.

Now the Bills are sitting pretty just a game behind the division-leading New England Patriots.

In getting to this point, the Bills have cemented their position as early-season AFC contenders.

The Bills have showcased a dominant rushing game—a trend that rookie back Karlos Williams continued in Week 3. On top of that, aside from their shootout loss to the Patriots in Week 2, the team has also showcased a dominant defense.

Through the seasons's first three games, the Bills have averaged an impressive 152.7 yards per game on the ground. What's most impressive about this is that they've established their ground-game dominance without much of a contribution from offseason acquisition LeSean McCoy.

Consider the distribution of the Bills' carries and rushing yards through the first three games of 2015:

Player	Carries	Yards	Average	Touchdowns	Fumbles
LeSean McCoy	43	146	3.4	0	0
Karlos Williams	24	186	7.8	3	0
Total	67	332	5.0	3	0

Williams has been outstanding through his first three NFL games, averaging 7.75 yards per carry. On Sunday, the Florida State product carried the rock for an impressive 110 yards on just 12 carries and showed impressive burst with a 41-yard touchdown that staked the Bills to a 41-14 lead late in the fourth quarter.

McCoy hasn't been as good as Williams, but he has helped the team both on the ground and through the air (83 yards and a touchdown on seven receptions).

In addition to the success of the running game, the Bills have been able to spread the field well thanks to the play of former Dolphins tight end Charles Clay. Through three games, he has logged 12 receptions for 144 yards and two touchdowns.

On Sunday, Clay led the team in receptions in what was certainly a big game for him, as it came against his former team.

The only question mark on offense is whether or not Tyrod Taylor can keep the team in a good enough position to win week in and week out.

Aside from that loss to the division-rival Patriots, Taylor has proved to be a competent option, racking up a 74.4 percent completion rate with 714 passing yards and seven touchdowns against three interceptions.

Taylor was outstanding against the Dolphins, racking up three touchdowns and 277 yards on 21-of-29 passing. Speaking with reporters after the game, Taylor said the result is a "huge team win, especially on the road" and stated that the Bills "worked hard on our game plan and executed."

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

On defense, the Bills have proven to be a rather stout unit, allowing on average 74.0 yards on the ground and 326.7 through the air—that mark is driven up by the whooping they received from Tom Brady and the Pats.

Limiting the ground game has been a hallmark of successful Rex Ryan defenses, and even last year's 4-12 Jets team allowed just 1,489 rushing yards (fifth in the NFL).

This defensive front will serve the Bills well moving forward and should open up the playbook for Ryan and defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman to send more diverse blitz packages at opposing quarterbacks.

It's not just the defensive line that's thriving, though, and Sunday's win over the Dolphins was evidence of that.

After being torched for 451 yards through the air in last week's loss to the Patriots, the Bills secondary bounced back, allowing 289 passing yards while also forcing three interceptions—one of which went the other way for a touchdown.

The win was a huge bounce-back effort for the Bills after getting punked by the Patriots last week and showed the resiliency necessary to compete in the AFC East, though they'll likely need to beat New England—they get them on the road at Gillette Stadium next time—in order to come out on top of the division.

Even if they can't get over the hump and split with the Patriots, the Bills still have a good chance to grab one of the two wild-card spots in the AFC and reach the playoffs for the first time since 1999.

Next week, the Bills will head home to face the New York Giants. Then they hit the road again to face the Titans. With two very winnable games ahead of them, the Bills will be out to prove that this win, and their play in the season's two previous games—more so the victory over the Colts than the loss to the Pats—was no fluke.

All stats courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise noted.

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