Miami Dolphins fans bye-week NFL watching guide week 11
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins are on the bye-week this coming weekend but for those fans of football, there is still plenty to watch from Thursday to Monday night.
Remember in year’s past the bye would roll around and fans would say, “well, at least the Dolphins can’t lose this weekend!”, well, this week, they can’t win. It is amazing how everything seems to be changing for the better since Mike McDaniel came to Miami.
This week, the Dolphins can’t get to eight wins but there are plenty of things that can happen that will benefit and impact the Dolphins while they sit at home.
Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills
We all know who to root for but they by-line this week is the weather. Those poor Bills fans will have something else to complain about. The Bills announced they have been in discussion with the NFL about a storm that could dump as much as 4-5 feet of snow between now and Sunday.
The storm could make it hard for fans to get to the stadium and the Bills may need consider another location or have the game moved to Monday in order to give crews time to clear the snow.
Whenever the game happens, the Bills are reeling from their week 10 loss to the Vikings that included a Josh Allen endzone fumble for a Viking a touchdown and a Josh Allen interception on the goal line in the span of 10 minutes.
A loss by the Bills and Miami will maintain a one game lead over their rivals to the North.
New York Jets at the New England Patriots
Is there a worse game in the NFL this weekend? Probably not. Who do you really want to root for? On one hand, rooting for the Patriots makes a lot of sense. A Patriots win puts the Jets back in first place regardless of what happens in the Bills game.
A loss by the Jets keeps Miami in first place but who really roots for the Patriots…ever? A victory would move the Patriots one game behind the leaders in the AFC with six wins and move Bill Belichick one game closer to Don Shula’s all-time win total.
This is one of those games that I really can’t tell you who to root for. This is an internal debate that you and you alone have to make. For me, I’m not 100% sure who I will root for but I honestly don’t know if I can root for the Patriots….maybe I’ll root for a tie!
The Jets and Patriots played a few weeks ago and New England took that one. Rematches are hard to win especially when they are only weeks apart.
Carolina Panthers at Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens are at the top of the AFC North and do not own the head-to-head against the Dolphins but this could be an interesting development within the AFC North. A loss by the Ravens could give the Bengals a better shot at the division and Miami would be better with the Bengals winning the division as they are the only team in the North that they do not have a head-to-head advantage.
Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers
There are two ways to approach this game. If the Bengals lose, they will drop two games behind the Dolphins but WC tie-breakers could still come into play later in the season. If they win, it would only serve Miami’s interests if the Ravens lose.
It would probably be better for the Bengals to lose this game regardless of what the Ravens do. Distance and space is always better than waiting to see how another division plays out. Of course one other benefit here is that the Ravens play at 1:00 and the Bengals play at 4:25 so you will know who you should root for, it will probably still be the Steelers!
Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers
A loss by the Chiefs puts the Dolphins closer to potentially having the top seed in the AFC. K.C. holds that this week given the fact they have had their bye week and the Dolphins have not.
If the Chargers lose this game, they will drop to 5-5 and that too would help the Dolphins down the road but Miami will play the Chargers two weeks after their bye so they control their own destiny in terms of the Chargers.
A K.C. loss would be huge for the Dolphins and that might be the edge that Miami would need when the regular season wraps up.