This Sunday night, the Dolphins will be playing for the AFC East title, but it’s more than just that because it’s against the Bills. The Bills have dominated the Dolphins for the last five years, including earlier this season when the Bills destroyed the Dolphins. But even though the Bills have dominated the Dolphins, this rivalry is very much alive. We all know how annoying Bills fans can be on Twitter, and we all get into arguments with them all the time, but this might be our chance to finally shut them up. But of course, it won’t be an easy game, doesn’t mean the Dolphins won’t win, but it won’t be easy. Let’s see what the Dolphins should do to make it happen.
First of all, the Dolphins have to make sure they don’t do whatever it is they were trying to do last time they played the Bills because it clearly didn’t work. The Dolphin’s offense has been great this year, but at times, they have struggled to find consistency and haven’t been able to put together good drives against good defenses. The last time the Dolphins played the Bills, the game got to a fast start, with both teams scoring in their first two drives, but that caused some problems for the Dolphins.
The Dolphins were too busy trying to match the pace the Bills were playing with instead of trying to slow down the pace of the game. That caused the Dolphins to stop running the ball early in the game, which is never a good thing. The Dolphins need to try to win the time of possession by putting together long drives and giving time for their defense to rest. They need to stop trying to only make big plays and try to get every yard they can and run the ball as much as possible. Usually, going for the big plays works, but not against every team because when you play for the Bills, you want to make sure to keep the ball away from their offense.
Another thing the Dolphins’ offense should do, more specifically Tua, is not to force throws. Tua has been amazing for most of the year, but he has had his fair share of bad throws, and it’s usually when he is trying to force the ball to Tyreek too much. Of course, we need to give the ball to Tyreek as much as possible, but forcing it too much can cause many problems like turnovers, and then your defense has to get back in the field without much of a rest.
Defensively, it will be a battle because it seems like every time Josh Allen plays against the Dolphins, he turns into Superman; it doesn’t mean we can’t stop him, but it’s hard. In my opinion, the Defensive plan has to be to make Allen try to play superhero and make him force plays. We have seen this season that when Allen has to carry the team, he usually ends up turning the ball over multiple times and losing the game, so stopping the run early in the game will be important to make this happen.
The biggest problem for the Dolphins will be coming in the shape of Eli Apple. Vic Fangio says that he will probably start Apple in Xavien Howard’s spot because Howard is not expected to play due to injury. As I already said in my last article, and I will say it again, Eli Apple is the worst cornerback in the NFL and doesn’t deserve a roster spot. The Dolphins would be much better off starting Cam Smith, Nik Needham, or Ethan Bonner, not because they are elite players but because they are not Eli Apple, and you can’t get worse than Eli Apple. I really hope he proves me wrong.
All in all, it will hopefully be a fun game and a Dolphins win, but let’s look at the different scenarios for a second. If the Dolphins win, they win the Division and go to the playoffs as the number 2 seed, which means they would play the number 7 seed in the first round. That could be the Bills, or the Steelers, or the Colts or the Texans. No, of the Dolphins lose, they would drop to the number 6 seed and will have to face the Chiefs at Arrowhead in the first round. I am personally not so scared of the Chiefs, but I still think is better to play any of the other teams in Hard Rock Stadium. So, let’s go beat the Bills and win the Division for the first time since 2008. #FinsUp
