(1-2) Buffalo Bills at (0-3) Miami Dolphins +2.5
The all important division play begins for Miami who is in desperate need of a win, while Buffalo really hasn’t seemed to recover from the heart breaking loss in the opener to the Patriots. As it stands now both teams are chasing the nyj and New England Patriots within the division making this somewhat stale appearing game rather critical for one another. To be honest, not one person outside of those that are fans of these teams care one bit about this dud and I don’t blame them.
WHEN MIAMI HAS THE BALL:
There’s a new sheriff in town and his name is Chad Henne. I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t think Miami would be very conservative but that said I also expect a few shots deep to Ted Ginn serving two extremely important points 1.) the opportunity for a big play that Miami and especially Ginn so desperately needs and 2.) to open up the middle of the field to hopefully free up space in the running game and for underneath routes to Davone Bess, Brian Hartline, Greg Camarillo and Anthony Fasano as well as swings, dumps and screens to Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. Miami should be able to run the ball on Buffalo as it is but obviously they must avoid penalties and turnovers to keep Henne in a favorable situation and try to avoid the must throw downs in 3rd and long.
WHEN BUFFALO HAS THE BALL:
Marshawn Lynch is back from a 3 game suspension for performance enhancing drugs and will split carries with the impressive Fred Jackson. Miami has played the run very well thus far but the passing lanes have been wide open. Tight Ends have shredded Miami so far this year and Buffalo will be looking to attack the Safeties, Gibril Wilson in particular who has struggled big time the first 3 weeks. Bills WR Terrell Owens is coming off his first game without a catch in 185 games and you can be sure that Buffalo will be throwing the rock his way early and often if for no other reason than to avoid a huge blow up. Trent Edwards has been less than expected but he does have weapons with T.O. and Lee Evans and more than capable backs at his disposal so he is still dangerous enough to outscore the Phins erratic offense.
KEY MATCH UP:
Gibril Wilson and Yeremiah Bell Vs. Anybody!
Heading into the season the Safeties were thought to be one of our units of least concern, which has turned out to be our most glaring weakness thus far. Both Wilson and Bell have been caught out of position and exploited by opposing TE’s in paticular as well as a tendency to not provide over the top help to our corners allowing huge plays to Vincent Jackson, Pierre Garcon and every TE they’ve faced yet. And maybe more troubling than that is the number of missed tackles each has accumulated, Wilson specifically. Another poor performance and I would not be shocked in the least to see Wilson benched. It’s been that bad.
FEARLESS PREDICTION:
Make no mistake about it, 0-3 or not this game matters to the Dolphins in a big way. It’s the first of 6 must-win division games and essentially a new beginning figuratively and literally with Chad Henne and the clean slate of being 0-0 within the division. Miami has shown glimpses of excellent play offensively and based on the self induced streak of bad luck it only takes a big positive to get them back to believing and the opportunity to go 1-0 in the division will have them firing on all cylinders in the intensity department anyway. One win will go a long way towards the rest of the season and the psyche of Henne.
Dolphins 27-16
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