It's officially Dolphins week. Tonight, Highmark Stadium will be rocking when the Bills welcome Mike McDaniel and his Miami Dolphins to Orchard Park. Both teams will have had a short week to prepare to battle for AFC East glory.
While the Bills are coming in feeling great at 2-0, the Dolphins have had a bumpy last two weeks at 0-2. The Bills will be looking to win this game by exploiting some major weaknesses Miami has shown in the previous two weeks.
Two major Dolphins weaknesses Bills must attack
Defense
Just how rarely does this happen to a defense? Not only did the Miami Dolphins give up 33 points to an Indianapolis Colts team led by quarterback Daniel Jones, but they also didn't allow Indy to punt at all during that game.
Then in Week 2, the defense surrendered back-to-back scores capped off with a field goal to begin the game. This drove the Dolphins' streak to 11 straight games, during which the defense allowed points to their competitor.
It gladly came to a halt, but with the fate of New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye kneeling down to end the first half. If the Dolphins continue this trend and have to let quarterback Josh Allen kneel down to end the first half, it could be a long night in Western New York for this South Florida squad.
Offensive line
Teams that have a stable starting five on the offensive line are the ones that are playing their cards right. They're the ones that have championship aspirations year after year because they're protecting their quarterback as a whole unit.
The teams that don't have a stable five are ones like the Dolphins. In the offseason, Miami invested heavily in upgrading its offensive line.
Their starting five looked young and rising, but you can't promise that the injury bug won't come a-calling. After the first week of the drubbing by the Colts, the Dolphins lost both center James Daniels and right tackle Austin Jackson to the IR, forcing Miami to reshuffle the right side of the line.
At right tackle came Larry Borom, who now had to protect Tua's blind side because he's a left-handed quarterback. To say it wasn't a success is an understatement.
Miami's passing game features a vertical downfield style of play, and a key element of Tua's success is getting rid of the ball quickly, which helps keep its offensive linemen fresh while protecting the quarterback. Tua was successful in Week 2 against the Pats as he threw for 315 yards, but he was sacked five times as well.
On Miami's final two plays, Tua was brought down by defensive tackle Milton Williams on a fourth-down play where Miami needed to convert to keep its game-winning drive alive. That blame fell on both offensive tackle Kion Smith and Borom.
In addition to those mistakes, the Dolphins' offensive line was penalized six times, with four penalties being holding calls and two being false starts.
With all the knowledge the Bills have on two of the Dolphins' major weaknesses, now the hope is they will be prepared to shut the Dolphins down and give Bills Mafia their third win of the season at home.