Back in Week 3, the Buffalo Bills went into Sun Life Stadium and demolished the frighteningly-bad Miami Dolphins 41-14. After that game, the Bills looked like a potential playoff team while the Dolphins were a complete mess. An injury to Tyrod Taylor and firing of Joe Philbin later, both teams are now 3-4 and fighting for their wild-card lives. With Taylor back in action for Week 9, here are five keys to a Bills victory as they try to right the ship.
5. Jump On Miami Early
Before playing the Patriots, the Dolphins won two games in a row, and did so by scoring early and often. They jumped on the Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans, scoring 58 points in the first half combined in both matchups. If the Bills can beat them at their own game and come out with a sense of urgency, making the Dolphins come from behind plays to Buffalo's hand.
4. Get the Ball to Sammy Watkins
Watkins has been injured pretty much all year. He's finally healthy enough to give it another go, and you know he's hungry. If you want to jump on the Dolphins early, you need some big plays. Watkins is their best big-play threat on the outside, and getting him a first-quarter touchdown would do a lot for this team and Waktin's confidence.
3. Minimize YAC Yards
The Dolphins have this guy named Jarvis Landry -- he's a target machine. And while his numbers aren't eye-popping as far as yards and touchdowns are concerned, he makes his money by running hard after the catch, and he's not easy to tackle. If the Dolphins can force those short passes and then make sure tackles at the first point of contact, it'll stop Dolphin drives at just the right time more often than not.
2. Keep 50-50 Balance On Offense
While it isn't easy running the ball against that Dolphins front seven, the Bills can't abandon the run. It doesn't matter if they run misdirection, options, whatever -- just keep that balance on offense. If they don't, Tyrod Taylor is going to get killed in his first game back by a prideful, massive Dolphins D-line that wants to prove that their first matchup in Week 3 was a fluke.
1. Make Ryan Tannehill Beat You
Buffalo is also a good run-stuffing team, and they need to shut down Lamar Miller today. If they stop the run game of the Dolphins, you can beat them. When Miller hasn't had a good game, the Dolphins have typically lost and Tannehill has struggled mightily. Tannehill won't be able to beat the Bills if the ground game isn't going and his receivers aren't able to take short routes a long distance. Forcing Tannehill to try and throw medium and deep routes to get anything going is going to give Buffalo a lot of opportunities for sacks, and, more importantly, takeaways.
Predictions: Bills 24, Dolphins 17
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