Dolphins vs Bills Pre-game discussion

[KTOWNFINFAN]

I hardly noticed gibson last week outside of the catch he had maybe I was ball watching. Was it me or was wallace getting way too many looks. Tannehill was forcing it to him on several plays

I agree and I don't think they will do that every week. I think going in we thought Wallace speed vs Revis was a match up that they would not think we would exploit so that is where we went. I think as more teams start putting more people on Wallace you will see Clay, Hartline, Gibson, Landry, Sims and even Hoskins get more looks.
It really looked like Hoskins belonged out there. He looked very natural and confident in his body language. I think he will become a very big part of the offense. I will go out of a limb and say that Hoskins will have very similar numbers to Landry by the end of the year. Hoskins like Landry is a VERY good blocker, both in the run game and in the passing game. He is the player we all hoped Egghead would turn into, but never did.

 

[finfan54]

The bills are favored and should be. They are playing at home and have beaten us twice in a row. This is a really bad matchup for us, they are a running team and we are without all of our LBs. That is not a good matchup. We are not at home in the heat to be able to walk away from them in the 2nd half. If we lose the turnover battle we lose the game. If the turnovers are even I think the team that runs the ball the best wins the game, and they have the better running game.

To start the season I had them finishing 2nd in the division and I still feel that way. I would take a split with them and be happy. They are much better than some give them credit for. They will be, by far, the biggest threat to keep us from 4-0 before we play GB after the bye. If this game was at home I would say we win a close one, but on the road I have to give them a slight edge since we don't have any LBs. If Tripp and Misi are both in the lineup I will change my opinion and say we win a close one but if not the bills will find a way to win. IMO

So the difference is Tripp and Misi?

Not buyin. Its simple to me, build on a better offense than last Sunday without turning ball over and we win. The defense will be set up to stop the run this time. We lost to Buffalo because of our offense, both times. Things have changed. Dont turn the ball over. Dont give Manuel any easy TD's.

 

[finfan54]

I think the Phins can easily run on them....while the front 4 is very good, the LB's are average...

just for comparison, they are saying the same thing about our D.

 

[RobertHorry]

i predicted we'd beat their scrub qbs...i knew the pass rush was gonna be a problem...i dont ever recall saying anything would be easy...especially with our tackle play

our d got beat by the screen game and qb keepers for gods sakes

and i never said it would be easy this year...i'm saying the gameplan on offense should be though

I agree. Just worried that they are going to try and target Will Davis to move the ball down the field. Also, if we are playing Trusnick, I would be shocked if they don't try to exploit that with Spiller/Jackson.

 

[FSU Truth]

just for comparison, they are saying the same thing about our D.

They should...the front 4 is very good and the Phins backers are suspect

 

[nick1]

It is a hard Matchup but our QB is better our defense is better overall. We should win

 

[KTOWNFINFAN]

So the difference is Tripp and Misi?

Not buyin. Its simple to me, build on a better offense than last Sunday without turning ball over and we win. The defense will be set up to stop the run this time. We lost to Buffalo because of our offense, both times. Things have changed. Dont turn the ball over. Dont give Manuel any easy TD's.

I see where you are coming from but to beat them up there, we are going to have to slow down there running game or we won't be able to get them off the field. They will wear down our defense and beat us late in the game like we did the pats. Stopping their running game is the key to the game IMO and that will come down to whether we get some help at LB, which is why I said I change my prediction if we get some of our guys back at LB. Just my opinion, but that was my line of thinking.

 

[KTOWNFINFAN]

I agree. Just worried that they are going to try and target Will Davis to move the ball down the field. Also, if we are playing Trusnick, I would be shocked if they don't try to exploit that with Spiller/Jackson.

Please do not repeat that statement, I may have trouble sleeping. That terrifies me.

 

[BillsFanInPeace]

OK Bills fan to give his take. I did my duty and read through the entire thread and some of the drivel, but there is my take On Wednesday, things could change as week progresses a BIT.

Key Injuries for Bills

Rivers - Groin (should be able to go from early reports) This is key because if he cannot go Rookie Preston Brown who struggled in CHI will start again.
Gilmore - Should be a go. This is vital because without him our DB depth suffers and the guy that would be covering TEs (Graham) has to move outside, which puts our Safeties and LBers on TEs (this was exposed in CHI)
A Williams - This will be the hardest for the Defense to overcome, and depending how he progresses through Concussion Protocol, I expect him out. That will force Duke Williams or Searcy in an every down role and that is not good, Especially if Graham is forced to play outside due to Gilmore Injury.

What I expect to see from Bills on Offense.

1. More of what I saw with Bears. Alot of Misdirection, Read Option (20 plays run out of that look), and moving EJ around. I would love to see the downfield game that was highlighted at camp, however I do not think Bills comeout and feature that this week, because of the worry of Henderson on Wake.

2. They will distribute the touches on Offense like this, Spiller (20ish), Freddy (12ish), Dixon (5). Touches being the key word, that is not all Running, with Spiller at CHI a number of his touches came from the return game and passing as well.

3. OL is still a work in progress, seeing Glenn missed all camp, and came back great (not worried there) Henderson moved over to RT, which pushed Pears into RG. The Right side of the line is nice, but still make mistakes because a Rookie playing next to a OG that now has 1 real game at OG. LG is still an issue on this team though.

4. Our Screen game is amazing (well it would be if the OGs play well). We have alot of them in our playbook but in CHI our OGs could not get on their blocks in space, if that happens our RBs are off to races, as they always had a ton of green, but the OG missing his block in space caused our Screens to get blown up in CHI. However I expect to see alot of them run to Wakes side, to try and slow some passrush up.

What I think I will see from Defense.

1. Bills ran a total of 25 Blitzes against CHI. I think I will see more of the same early to test your new OL. Obviously the Blitzes were to rattle Cutler into mistakes as well as get sacks, those did not come but the mistakes did, so I expect more of the same initially to test the rebuilt line.

2. I dont think the Bills will have an issue stopping the run. The game plan against CHI was not to have the BIG WRs beat them, so they sacrificed letting Forte have some runs. I dont think that will be a problem against MIA as you dont have a Marshall and Jefferies.

3. Emotional and Hard Hitting, Bills Defense is Violent, not soft like that past, Spikes brings alot of that attitude to them. And then with the crowd noise in a home opener with all the emotion I expect to see a physcial game from defense. In CHI they sent Jefferies and OG and C out with Injuries.

4. Speaking of above, once C, OG went with INJ Bills started attacking there with Twists and Gut Blitzes. I think they will test your interior early with no Pouncy.

Key Matchups for Bills

Henderson on Wake
Spiller, Jackson, Dixon vs LBers
K Williams / Dareus against Interior
Mario Williams against Rookie.

This game is hard to predict, we match up very well against MIA, however you improved alot on OL. Being a division game this will be a hard one and something I would never lay money on. I see a 24-21 game either way.

Where MIA can hurt Buffalo based on week 1.

1. Exploiting Henderson (if he cannot hold up against Wake going to be a long day for EJ)
2. TE, Unlike some here say I am not worried about your outside WRs at all. I think they Bills saw a group last week that is night and day more talented and better and did fine. However I do think Clay is much better than Bennett and he hurt us alot last week.
3. Screen Game, Emotions running high and fast pursuit we have we can be beat with the Screen, not we faced one of the best backs at it last week with Forte, but man every screen resulted in a 1st down and the ball moving.


Going to be frustrating I think for Bills fans to watch because they will want to see Watkins, Williams, Woods and Goodwin against a weaker DB set, but I dont think that will be the focus I think it will be the RBs on LBers in the passing game and the "Check Down" that Bills fans want to see less of will be featured in this gameplan, as it should with your ??? at LBer. Now that is not saying they wont look at WRs they will.

But I do expect alot of Putting EJ on the move with a run pass option yet again this week.

 

[hoops]

I agree. Just worried that they are going to try and target Will Davis to move the ball down the field. Also, if we are playing Trusnick, I would be shocked if they don't try to exploit that with Spiller/Jackson.

oh yeah they are going after our lbs no matter what we put out there...

 

[roy_miami]

This is where we should see a big difference between Lazor and Sherman. A really good OC should be able to look at his own offenses tape and anticipate the areas that the opposing defensive coordinator will try to exploit. And if you know what their adjustments will be it should be easy to counter their counter. The hunter becomes the hunted if you will.

The bills are favored and should be. They are playing at home and have beaten us twice in a row. This is a really bad matchup for us, they are a running team and we are without all of our LBs. That is not a good matchup. We are not at home in the heat to be able to walk away from them in the 2nd half. If we lose the turnover battle we lose the game. If the turnovers are even I think the team that runs the ball the best wins the game, and they have the better running game.

To start the season I had them finishing 2nd in the division and I still feel that way. I would take a split with them and be happy. They are much better than some give them credit for. They will be, by far, the biggest threat to keep us from 4-0 before we play GB after the bye. If this game was at home I would say we win a close one, but on the road I have to give them a slight edge since we don't have any LBs. If Tripp and Misi are both in the lineup I will change my opinion and say we win a close one but if not the bills will find a way to win. IMO

I kind of agreed, I thought most everybody was sleeping on Buffalo for a while and thought both Miami and Buffalo had about an equal shot at that final wild card spot, thinking Buffalo was kind of exactly in the same spot we were this time last year and their season is completely dependent on Manuel. Then after listening to a lot of the podcasts I started to soften on them, a lot of people are thinking they may very well have handed Cleveland the first overall pick in 2015. They lost a few of their better playmakers. They lost their very good defensive coordinator. And the fact that they gave ****ing Kyle Orton $5 mill is not a good sign for Manuel. Giving $5 mill to a guy, especially one that kind of sucked on his best days, especially a sucky player that was enjoying retirement, is a horrible sign for everybody involved.

I'm still not sleeping on Manuel though, I for one certainly won't be surprised if he's able to carry their team to the victory, or even to the playoffs. But I am expecting a Miami win.

A win would be absolutely huge but at the same time a loss wouldn't be the end of the world either. We're probably going to lose the majority of our road games, like most teams, and this would just be one of them. Plus, Carolina lost at Buffalo week 2 last season and still went on to do OK for themselves record wise.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

I think you should be worried about our wide receivers, and here is why I say that: IMO the Patriots have better DB play than the Bills, and we were able to get guys open on them.

Like the two games last year, IMO this one comes down to the trenches.

 

[Fin Thirteen]

Buff gave up 342 yards in the air and 4.8 yards per run on the ground. They allowed almost 30 first downs, against only half of that for themselves. Most days, that will get you beaten.

We gave up 3 turnovers and lost the turnover margin. Most days that will get you beaten.

If I was a betting man and I had to put money on which of the above would be repeated and which was a one-off, I'd have to say Buffalo look likely to surrender a lot of yardage again this week. I hope Buffalo does blitz us, as BillsFanInPeace suggests. What I would fear is that they try to do to us what we did with the Pats - ie send up 4 or 5 and have the rest drop back to cover the short and intermediate stuff - rely on the strength of their d-line and dare us to go deep. As it is I think we have the offensive edge on their overall D.

Their O (like ours) looks a much better setup than last season. Far less one-dimensional. We'll have our hands full with the run game, but this year the Bills actually have a pass game to hit you with if you overcommit to the box. Their o-line might be patchy, but 200 yards rushing is a good result against the Bears, so not to be direspected. OK the Bears aren't the defensive behemoth they once were by any means, but neither are we when we're talking Run D.

I will say though that our overall D is one of the stingiest in the league (on points) for a reason. We'll suffer a little with the LB changes, we'll give up run yardage to Jackson and Spiller, but our strength is in the secondary and d-line, where we look in rude health. I don't think that automatically translates to a W, but the Bills offense can't throw anything at us (outside of maybe Watkins being used massively on sweeps and screens) that we haven't seen before.

I predict a close game for 3 quarters and I think we'll pull away. Both our O and our D are better balanced than Buffalo's. While neither are elite or without holes, BUffalo have the bigger question marks and that should eventually tell over 60 minutes.

If we do give up 3 turnovers again, then I can see nothing but a Buffalo win. That **** doesn't happen twice.

 

[WesternNYDolfan]

Alright...week 2 and the Phins take on the Buffalo Bills or Toronto Bills or "who give a ****" Bills because nobody else in the NFL does.

What do we know about the Bills?

The like these in massive quantities...(pretty much make up 90 percent of their diet with the other 10% being Lebatts

And love these...

and this is where they live here..

This is what they will be fielding...

Offense

QB EJ Manuel Kyle Orton
WR Robert Woods Mike Williams
WR Sammy Watkins Marquise Goodwin
TE Scott Chandler
RB C.J. Spiller/Fred Jackson
FB Frank Summers
LT Cordy Glenn
LG Chris Williams
C Eric Wood
RG Erik Pears
RT Seantrel Henderson

Good rushing attack that could expose our issues at LB, but are very limited at the QB position.

Defense

DE Mario Williams
DT Kyle Williams
DT Marcell Dareus
DE Jerry Hughes
WLB Keith Rivers
MLB Brandon Spikes
SLB Preston Brown
LCB Leodis McKelvin
S Da'Norris Searcy
S Aaron Williams
RCB Stephon Gilmore

Strong pass Rush that gave the Phins fits last season, but the DB's are suspect.

What do the Phins need to do...

On offense: Good blocking up front and keep Tannehill clean. James and Albert have a very busy day. Establich the run and work on those suspect DB's

On Defense: Stop the Bills running game and force EJ to beat you.

Best outcome...Dolphins take an early lead and the Bills have to pass.

My Take: **** the Bills..they beat the Phins twice last year, who gives a ****...its 2014 and we have these two big mother ****er that are going to keep our boy Tannehill Clean and guess what? We have another pissed off, chip on his shoulder RB that is out to prove that he doesn't need PeyPey to succeed. On defense...Wake is on the hunt and he is filling his game room with QB corpses. Even if EJ isn't worth being displayed, he still wants to add him to his collection. 2014 is the year we can be proud to be Dolphins fans and walk with a little swagger, cause guess what....these boys are good and are hungry....basically...watch the **** out NFL...

I hate the bills as much as the next fin fan, but there's no need to hate on the deliciousness that is buffalo wings, or put us northerners down for being tough enough to deal with snow

 

[FSU Truth]

I hate the bills as much as the next fin fan, but there's no need to hate on the deliciousness that is buffalo wings, or put us northerners down for being tough enough to deal with snow

I didn't hate buffalo wings at all...I said it made up 90% of their diet...I like wings (though I prefer to smoke them first instead of dropping them in a fry daddy)

I also didn't hate on northerners, just that....it must suck to have to go through that in late January...the worst thing I have to deal with is deciding which of the two sweaters I'm to wear when in drops below 60...