Week 15: Bills vs. Miami

at Sunday, Dec. 17th 1:00pm ET Stats Matchup

The Dolphins come to town looking to strengthen their hopes at the final playoff spot in the AFC. The Bills are reduced to playing for pride after a crushing loss in Tennessee last week. Buffalo will be looking to avenge a week 3 loss in Miami while trying to play spoilers to their main rival in the league. The Dolphins have always struggled in cold weather and will come to Buffalo on a short week after losing Monday night to Philadelphia.

FACTS AND FIGURES

Matchup:	Buffalo (6-8) vs. Miami (8-6)
Place:	Ralph Wilson Stadium
Television:	CBS
Announcers:	Dick Enberg, Dan Diedorf, & Bonnie Bernstein
Spread:	Bills by 1
Series:	Dolphins leads 48-30-1 (Bills 3-1 playoffs)
Last Meeting:	Dolphins 17-7 in Miami (Week 3)
Miami Offense:	Rush (16th); Pass (27th); overall (25th)
Miami Defense:	Rush (4th); Pass (22nd); overall (12th)
Bills Offense:	Rush (19th); Pass (28th); overall (27th)
Bills Defense:	Rush (7th); Pass (4th); overall (2nd)

INJURY UPDATE

The Bills are considerably healthy for this late in the season. Izell Reese will likely miss the game after tearing a calf muscle against the Titans. All other banged up players should be ready to give it a go. Mike Williams was banged up against the Titans but should be ok. There are other banged up players that may be listed as questionable but should see action with the possible exception of OG Mike Pucillo and DE Keith McKenzie who have been battling toe and quad injuries respectively. This game has a chance of seeing the NFL debut of Willis McGahee. He has been real close to seeing action the last few weeks after having reconstructive knee surgery in January.

The Dolphins got a bit banged up against the Eagles on Monday night. RB Ricky Williams missed some action after injuring his shoulder but he returned. QB Jay Fiedler has been battling a knee injury but made it through the Eagles game. Same with DE Jason Taylor who also has a shoulder injury.
Bills Daily Injury Page

KEY MATCHUPS

DT Sam Adams and Pat Williams vs. RB Ricky Williams:
Williams ran wild on the Bills for a third straight time earlier this year in Miami. With a cold December game in Buffalo the team that runs better will win the game so the Bills must contain Williams.

RB Travis Henry vs. LB Zach Thomas:
Thomas is by far the leading tackler for the Dolphins and will be the man to try and contain Henry. The Bills RB needs to outplay his Miami counterpart for the Bills to gain a victory. He has been red hot of late.

RT Mike Williams vs. DE Adewale Ogunleye:
Ogunleye has 13 sacks and represents another in a long line of tough battles recently for Williams. He has come out of his sophmore slump with good battles against Michael Strahan, Jevon Kearse, and Shaun Ellis. He needs to continue his strong play this week.

CB Nate Clements vs. QB Jay Fiedler:
Clements seems to save his best for Miami, he picked off two passes in the last meeting returning one for a score. Most of his career interceptions have come against this team. Fiedler will be weary of where Clements is all the time.

CB Antoine Winfield vs. WR Chris Chambers:
Chambers is the main receiving threat for Miami and Winfield will be looking to atone for his worst game of the season last week in Tennessee. He needs to hold Chambers in Check.

WR Eric Moulds vs. CB Sam Madison:
Moulds says he's feeling better each week. Now is the time for him to step his game up against a tough corner in Madison. He needs to be able to stretch the field or get off of it.

GAME PLAN

When The Bills Have The Ball: Miami is tough to run against but so was Tennessee and the Bills had success on the ground last week. They need to commit to the running game and hammer it out. Henry will get his yards. Then it will hopefully open up the play action passing game. Bledsoe needs to become more accurate when he does throw.

When The Dolphins Have The Ball: They will also try to grind it out on the ground with Ricky Williams. Fiedler will take his shots downfield and the Bills secondary needs to be ready for that also.

BILLS DAILY PREDICTION

The Bills are just playing for pride but that will be enough against the dreaded fish who are reeling after another late season loss. December in Buffalo has never been kind to Miami and we don't see it starting now. The Bills will play one, last solid game for the season and win it for their coach:
Bills 20, Dolphins 17

Season Prediction Record: (8-6)
Season Record Against The Spread: (8-5-1)

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