The Miami Dolphins keys to victory against the Buffalo Bills

3. Score 30 or more points

Tua is going to get all the praise or blame (depending on how the game goes), but this will need to be a team effort for Miami to put up points this Sunday. Like any offense, it will all start up front for the Miami Dolphins.

The Dolphins offensive line didn’t have an awful game in New England, but they’ll be looking to take a step forward against the Buffalo Bills. That will be easier said than done though, as the Bill have some serious talent up front. Jerry Hughes, Ed Oliver, A.J. Epenesa. and now Gregory Rousseau are all major threats to get to the quarterback.

One thing the Steelers failed to do was run the ball against the Bills. Outside of a 25 yard end around to receiver Chase Claypool, the Steelers rushed for a grand total of 50 yards on 20 carries (that’s 2.5 yards a carry). Najee Harris won’t make a difference for this group for one reason-their offensive line isn’t good.

The good news for the Dolphins is that they have a better offensive line than the Steelers. The Bills don’t have an impenetrable front seven. If Miami can establish more of a running game, they can keep the ball out of Josh Allen’s hands and take some pressure off their defense.

It seemed like the Dolphins would get a major boost to the passing game with the return of Preston Williams and Will Fuller, but it seems Fuller is dealing with some personal issues and won’t be making his Dolphins debut this Sunday. Still, possibly having Preston Williams back is huge. Jaylen Waddle looked the part of an early first round pick against the Patriots, and DeVante Parker hasn’t lost a step. Oh, and don’t forget about Albert Wilson and Mike Gesicki (who averaged 89 yards per game against the Bill last year).

They’ll have the players to stress this secondary, if Tua can put it all together this week. Up until that ugly interception in New England, Tua was having a reasonably efficient game. New England tends to make young quarterbacks look silly, so we shouldn’t read too much into that.

We should accept that Tua is going to be under some duress this game. The Bills have too many good pass rushers and our line just isn’t developed enough to shut it down. The question will be, can Tua avoid that pressure and still make accurate throws down the field? I know it’s week two of the regular season, but this feels like a big game for him. What kind of statement will he make?

Final Thoughts

This might be the biggest game of the weekend in the entire NFL. The Bills have had the Dolphins number for the last five contests and Josh Allen always seems to have his best games against Miami. The Dolphins will never take that next step towards being a contender if they can’t knock off the Bills and at least split their season series.

While the Bills are in a desperate spot here, this seems like Miami’s best opportunity to take a game from Buffalo. What could be sweeter than Miami being 2-0 at the expense of the 0-2 Buffalo Bills? They’ll be at home with a high of 88 degrees, a chance of showers through out the day and 75% humidity. The Bills aren’t ready for that kind of a muggy day. Keep it close until they whither in the fourth quarter and take this win.

31-24 Miami Dolphins over the Buffalo Bills