It’s only the 4th week of the NFL season, but this matchup against our division rival Buffalo Bills is quite an interesting matchup. The Bills, despite having a 2-1 record have allowed and NFL 2nd best 11.7 PPG. On the flip side, the Miami Dolphins offense have scored an NFL leading 43.3 PPG, mostly due to the 70 point output last week against the Denver Broncos. What makes this matchup so fascinating to me, the Dolphins defense was supposed to be an improved unit, perhaps even a top unit, while the Bills were expected to take a step back after losing LB Tremaine Edmunds in FA to the Chicago Bears. So far, the Bills are just a hair behind the Cleveland Browns who have allowed an NFL low 10.7 PPG, while the Vic Fangio Dolphins unit has allowed 23.7 PPG good for a below average 20th in the NFL. So something has to give here, with the NFL best offense against very close to the best NFL defense. Oh, by the way, the Bills are 2nd in the NFL in scoring, right behind our Dolphins at 30.3 PPG. Dolphins fans who are looking at this game as an easy Dolphins win simply aren’t looking at this game realistically. The last 3 meetings have been decided by 3 points or less.
One of the most surprising changes in the Buffalo Bills offense is the return of their rushing attack. We all know how dangerous QB Josh Allen is rushing the football, but last year’s 2nd RD pick, James Cook has 267 yards, while QB Josh Allen has just 89 yards rushing. Perhaps even more of a turnaround, the Dolphins rushing attack has been even more impressive, no doubt mostly due to the offensive output against the Broncos last week. While the Bills have 448 yards rushing, the Dolphins have 565 yards rushing, and the 15 lbs of muscle that Raheem Mostert added are paying dividends, as Mostert has 240 yards rushing and an eye opening 6 TD’s. The debut of rookie De’Von Achane was off the charts, 208 yards on just 19 carries for an absurd 10.9 YPC. Passing is not quite as even. Josh Allen has a pedestrian 90.3 passer rating, in large part due to his 5 TD’s and 4 INT’s with 728 yards passing. On the flip side, QB Tua Tagovailoa has a 121.9 QBR with 8 TD’s and only 2 INT’s and 1024 yards passing.
As you all know, I just hate when our players get caught in the hype machine, and our young 3rd year LB Jaelan Phillips has been absolutely crushed by it. It appears as if Jaelan Phillps will miss the Buffalo game, and it looks likely that C Connor Williams may also miss this contest with a groin injury. Williams still has a chance to play, and although LT Terron Armstead only logged a limited practice yesterday, he’s likely to play. Unfortunately, this is the wrong week to have anyone on this O-line out, especially considering how well this unit has performed. Good news is WR Jaylen Waddle has been cleared from concussion protocol and got in a full practice yesterday. If Connor Williams can’t go, Liam Eichenberg will likely play C, and while his snaps are more accurate than his predecessor Connor Williams, we all know his blocking hasn’t been up to snuff. Like I said, bad week to make O-line substitutions.
While the Dolphins were pouring it on with a record breaking 10 offensive TD’s last week, The Bills defense pounded Commanders QB Sam Howell all day long to the tune of 9 sacks, 4 INT’s and 1 forced fumble and fumble recovery. Truth is, if we’re being honest, I know I expected a much better defense here in Miami with Vic Fangio. It’s also very early in the season, we haven’t yet completed a 1/4 of the season and it can definitely take time for a scheme to take hold. It’s not that the defense has been awful, it just hasn’t been better than last year, which in and of itself is a disappointment. The Bills have 12 sacks, our defense has 8, not a huge disparity, and much like our offensive numbers are skewed by last weeks Broncos game, the Bills are defensive numbers are aided by their dominant game against the Commanders.
To be clear, it’s still very possible that C Connor Williams plays, he did log a limited practice yesterday, so I wouldn’t rule him out. It’s just that you don’t want to exacerbate an injury any further and lose that player for an extended period of time, but if he can go, as I previously mentioned, this is not the week for an O-line substitution. For some bad news, both WR’s River Cracraft (shoulder) and Erik Ezukanma (neck) both did not practice, but I remind you that Jaylen Waddle will be suiting up. This means opportunities for Berrios who has already been wonderful, and Robbie Chosen who caught his first TD last week in a Dolphins uniform. Our old friend AVG, Andrew Van Ginkel has played so well this season, and surely has had a much larger role in this defense, both week 1 where he played inside, and then of course last week because of Jaelan Phillps injury. I would like to point out something that concerns me, our 2 top tacklers thus far this season are DB’s. Safeties Jevon Holland (33), and DeShon Elliott (22) are tops, and not too far behind are CB’s Kader Kohou (16) and Xavien Howard (15). I would think this is not a good trend, and hopefully once the Fangio defensive scheme takes hold, this will even out.
I really don’t know what to expect, although I would be surprised if this was an offensive shootout. I feel like these divisional games are much more measured and careful, and although last year’s playoff game was a 34-31 shootout of sorts, I think the scores will be lower. There’s a lot on the line for such an early season matchup, but the Bills don’t want the Dolphins to have a 2 game advantage on them, and the Dolphins would like nothing more to potentially be the only undefeated team in the NFL and also hold a 2 game edge on their division rival Bills, who have won the division each of the last 3 seasons. I expect us to try and run the ball often, and don’t expect another 300 + yards rushing for the Dolphins. Josh Allen loves playing against us, he owns us, he’s 9-2, but more importantly, 6-0 at home in Buffalo. For perspective, I’ll remind you that our last 3 games against the Bills have been decided by 3 points or less (34-31), (32-29), and a Dolphins victory (21-19). All I know is this is MUST WATCH TV!
GO DOLPHINS!!!
Finsmob Unleashed 
This defense is just not up to snuff
Hasn’t been for too long Mike. Bend and then break
Maybe Boyer wasn’t the problem…
Tackling is the problem. We can’t. On D or ST
Running all over us and we can’t tackle
Yeah, page turn worthy statement
That is two time outs they have had to take. It doesn’t show on the score board but it counts
Not sure I ever want to hear romo ever again
I fucking hate him
Love Wilkins, but if he wants to get paid he needs to play a lot better than he’s playing this season
Agreed. Can’t pay him for what he did last year anymore
We’ve been gashed up the middle since the beginning of the season
Me too but think we might be moving on. Ke should be playing for his next contract but isn’t. Worrying
Fucking tard announcer well, his knee may have come down a little bit sooner than before he crossed the line…
Delaying the inevitable
WTF is wrong with our Defense? I showed y’all our numbers earlier in the week, and it’s most pathetic… and it’s already showing early in this game.
Like I said up top, maybe Boyer wasn’t the problem
The Bills do have a potent offense, but I just don’t see this defense resembling anything close to a championship defense.
Our defense stinks
I can’t see anything on that replay
Bull fucking shit
Ok, now we know how it is. Us vs the refs and buff
BTW, it was evident to all that a Bills player threw a punch at one of our Phins players a play or two before said TD. Why wasn’t that player penalized?
Fucking Bills defender almost stole the handoff
Ingold STONEWALLED him though.
THAT was scary.
Nantz and Romo are yentas!!! 🤪
They SUCK!
WOW Mostert
Tire out those obnoxious fans. I mean sit down and watch like a civilized person GO ACHANE
Wow
He’s gonna get 4
Mike, I hope you played achane, lol
I did
ACHANE!!!!!!!!
Getting to 4Chane
A Chan
Cue the bills highlight montage after the break
Defense is optional today. Both teams
Kong – Big YES! Played both Mostert and Achane
This is the game I was expecting. Achane is awesome!!!
BOOM!!!
Glad I didn’t go today
It’s packed
https://x.com/dolfansnyc/status/1708532868803121531?s=61&t=NWZ–WfgKu_dYbC-fKuB3A
6/27
What a genius play design for the TD!!!
It was crazy
Come the fuck on D
Tackling!
Get a turnover now
Ridiculous, you can’t play defense in 2023
Diggs going to eat Kohuo getting torched
He wa stride for stride with hi,
He just didn’t turn around
Terrible call
Hand checking receiver the whole way
Totally legal, they were hand fighting
Fangio = the most overpaid coordinator in the NFL
Kohou needs to learn how to turn his fucking head around
Not relevant to this game, but what channel was the JAX vs ATL game?
ESPN+ It’s ridiculous.
This defense
This defense fucking suuuuuuuuuuuucks.
Oh I am so sick of Romo
Kohou can’t cover Diggs. Put cam Smith in
This defense can’t cover anyone or stop the run
At least not good offenses
Did anyone think this was going to be a defensive struggle?
Nooooooooooo
I was hoping our defense was going to make a statement. They have. It’s “We’re not going to make a positive impact on the game”
It’s a shootout already. Love it! Two good teams facing off.
Aren’t they banged up an CB already?
Is that their stud rookie?
gotta get some pressure on Allen and gotta get some run stops.
LET’S GO DOLPHINS!!!!
COME ON!!!!! LET’S GO!!!!!!!!
Bills defense gets it done
First game where we’re getting a lot of penalties
We need a fucking stop now. Let’s go.
It was just a matter of time till a good defense made a stop.
Tim ,
You love our D getting the shit kicked out of them?
Josh Allen saying “Mommy, he touched me!”
Dolphins defense gets it done. Huge stop
Bills looking to win an Oscar today too
On a positive note, we could be the Bengals down 2 TD’s to the Titans. 😳
Allen going into locker room to change his skirt after AVG tore it
We’re going to see a major fight before this game is over… at the current rate.
He dropped it
It was a really bad throw
Three and out . If Buffalo scores here I don’t think we are winning this game.
Play was over and Espenesa pushed a armstead down
He didn’t call a fair catch
Kendall Lamm bam thank you ma”am
He was pushed into him
Pussies!!!
Oops, balls!!
I fucking hate the Bills
Fuck!!!
Really hope that was OPI
So pathetic. Our defense is the reason we aren’t a genuine SB contender
I also thought our running game would hold us back but we’ve done better with that
That was bad
Hahahahaha! What a fucking joke this defense is.
Ok we need to have a four minute drive and then we get the ball back first in the 2nd half
No way we are winning this game. This team coming up small in a big spot, per usual.
Oh well, exposed, exposed, and exposed again
Yup. Pretenders
Really poor tackling by our defense today.
Tim – please delete today
Fuck…
Throwing a lot of short stuff
Brandon Jones has been extremely underwhelming today.
Need to score with no time left and we can get back into it
Yikes, pick 6 nearly happened there
Well, looks like it’s yard work time
It’s dark here. Suggestions?
Good grief.
Dammit, just can’t handle the heat
No we are in trouble
Game is over Ken
This team just can’t win in Buffalo
We were determined to turn the ball over. Bills have a championship caliber team. Dolphins have a really good offense
Correct. We don’t have a playoff D, much less a championship level D
This is how Denver felt
Oh well, I’m a Dolphins fan, I’m used to the team letting me down every time I think we’ve turned a corner.
We’re contenders against average teams but pretenders against good teams.
Does this seems cheap to anyone else
Maybe I’m being overly sensitive I hate the bills
But I think he throws armstead down after the ball is out of Tua’s hands
https://x.com/trebornotslar/status/1708547018833228139?s=61&t=NWZ–WfgKu_dYbC-fKuB3A
Great play by Bethel
This OL can’t play against a good D with two starters out
Please delete with two starters out
😂
sack by AVG!!!
We need some halftime adjustments on defense.
I posted this on Monday. Does this game resemble the numbers?
mf13ss says:
September 25, 2023 at 2:19 pm
Right now, our Offense is a JUGGERNAUT! Our Defense, not so much…
Miami Dolphins Defense after 3 games
Stats come from Pro Football REFERENCE
Keep in mind 4 teams play tonight on MNF, so our rankings could change a bit, but not by much.
#21 best in points allowed
#23 best in total yards allowed
#28 best in first downs allowed
#22 best in passing yards allowed
#25 best in rushing yards allowed
#18 best in sacks
#26 best in pressures
I’d say yes, but even worse.
Now just imagine our Defensive rankings after this game.
#55 is so close…..all….the….time….!!!