Buffalo Bills: Keys to victory in Week 17 against the Dolphins

Take Care of the Football

For the most part, this season the Buffalo Bills have been pretty good about taking care of the football. Josh Allen specifically has been much better about taking care of the football relative to his first two seasons in the league. This year Allen has only thrown nine interceptions to his 34 passing touchdowns. With that being said, Allen has continued to struggle this year with putting the ball on the turf. Although it has gotten better than years past, Allen has fumbled the ball nine times this season, all of which were not turnovers but is still an issue nonetheless.

In total the Bills have 20 turnovers lost, this includes 11 fumbles and the nine Josh Allen interceptions mentioned before. Looking at the Dolphins defense this year, they have been the best defense in the league in regards to forcing turnovers with 27 total turnovers forced. Additionally,  first in the league when it comes to the percentage of opponent drives that result in turnovers with a rate of 15.8%.

Capitalizing off of turnovers has been a large part of the Dolphins’ success this season. Heading into Week 17, it’s evident that the strength of this Dolphins team is not on offense. If the Bills limit or eliminate turnovers this game it should force the Dolphins to drive the length of the field more often against a Bills defense that is finding a groove.

Additionally, the Bills defense isn’t too far behind the Dolphins in terms of total turnovers and rate of turnovers per opponent possession. The Bills defense has forced 22 total turnovers which ranks fifth in the league and have caused a turnover on 14.2% of opponent possessions which ranks 4th.

If the Bills can win the turnover battle in Week 17 it would push the needle even further in the direction of the Bills, increasing their chances for success against the Dolphins.