Miami Dolphins Look At 1st Place During Bye Week

The Miami Dolphins will not play today but that doesn’t mean they can’t move up in the division. All three of Miami’s AFC East division rivals have games today and they are not easy cake walks. All three teams could conceivably lose this weekend and by doing so the Dolphins will advance one half game on each of their rivals.

Cincinnati Bengals @ New England Patriots

The Patriots released WR Kenbrell Tomkins yesterday ending the two year receivers time in New England. The Patriots are in big need of help at the position as only Julian Edelman is making an impact. They should see Rob Gronkowski get back into more of the team offensive flow but the team is making sure that he recovery is full and are not risking further injury by playing him early. The Patriots have looked horrible in three of their first four games and were readily embarrassed last Monday night against the Chiefs.

In comes the Bengals who have a much more efficient offense and a better defense than any team the Patriots have faced this season. The Bengals are -2.5 against the Patriots in Foxboro. The Patriots better find solutions quickly or they could find themselves out of a division race they are not use to being out of.

Buffalo Bills @ Detroit Lions

The Lions could be using Calvin Johnson as a decoy again or he could be healthy. The Bills won’t know which one until the game begins. Even without Megatron the Lions are a hard team to beat at home and they have plenty of other weapons to score points with. Defensively the Lions will not be trying to disrupt E.J. Manuel but instead Kyle Orton who has taken over the starting job for the Bills. The Lions are a tough team and the Bills can go either way but today’s game is not going to be easy for the Bills to walk away with. The Bills will enter the game +6.5.

New York Jets @ San Diego Chargers

The Jets are 6.5 point underdogs as they travel across the state and a loss will put them at 1-4 and putting Rex Ryan squarely on the hot seat. The Jets are not a good football team this year but are very good against the run ranking first in the NFL. Unfortunately they are horrible against the pass and San Diego has no running game but one of the best passing games in the NFL. That doesn’t make today’s game look good for New York. I doubt you will find one single Dolphins fan sending along their sympathy.

Each game this weekend are being played at different times with Buffalo having a 1:00 p.m. kickoff, New York kicking off shortly after 4:00, and New England hosting tonights primetime game.