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Week 3: Bills vs. Dolphins
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Sunday, Sept. 27th
4:25pm ET
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The Bills head to sunny and hot South Florida for the Dolphins home opener at Sun Life Stadium. The Bills will be battling the heat and a Miami team that has struggled the first two weeks of the season. This is a huge early season battle between two 1-1 teams who may be in a dogfight for the same playoff spot at the end of the season.
FACTS AND FIGURES
| Matchup: |
Buffalo (1-1) vs. Miami (1-1) |
| Place: |
Sun Life Stadium |
| TV/Radio: |
Network: CBS; DirecTV: 716; Sirius: 132 |
| Announcers: |
Spero Dedes and Solomon Wilcots |
| Spread: |
Dolphins by 3 |
| Series: |
Dolphins Lead 57-40-1 (Bills 3-1 in playoffs) |
| Streak: |
Dolphins Won 1 |
| Last Meeting: |
Dolphins 22-9 in Miami (2014) |
| Dolphins Offense: |
Rush (30th); Pass (10th); overall (24th) |
| Dolphins Defense: |
Rush (27th); Pass (16th); overall (23rd) |
| Bills Offense: |
Rush (3rd); Pass (27th); overall (15th) |
| Bills Defense: |
Rush (2nd); Pass (31st); overall (28th) |
INJURY UPDATE
The Bills will likely be without Aaron Williams after he suffered a neck injury last week. He was briefly hospitalized but was released and is expected to be ok. Marquise Goodwin and Tony Steward have both missed the first two games with injuries and are working their way back and may have a shot at playing.
The Dolphins are very banged up as starting tackle Branden Albert suffered a hamstring injury last week. RB Lamar Miller has missed practice with an ankle injury and TE Jordan Cameron is missing time with a groin injury. It is unknown if any of them will play. Bills killer Cameron Wake has been limited in practice with a hamstring injury as has S Reshad Jones.
Check out our  Bills Daily Injury Page throughout the week for the latest updates on the injured players.
KEY MATCHUPS
RB LeSean McCoy vs. LB Jelani Jenkins:
The Bills need to get the running game going and it is time for a huge game for McCoy. Jenkins is the man who will look to stop him as the leading tackler for Miami.
RT Seantrel Henderson vs. DE Cameron Wake:
Henderson will have his hands full against the former CFL import that has always had success against the Bills. Wake lines up on the left side so he can go against the right tackles in the league. If he's healthy this is a problem matchup for the Bills.
DE Mario Williams vs. RT Ja'Wuan James:
Super Mario also lines up on the left side more often. He has played well the first two weeks but isn't getting anything going as a pass rusher. That needs to change this week.
CB Stephon Gilmore vs. WR Jarvis Landry:
Gilmore will likely lock up with the Dolphins leading receiver more often than not and needs to take him out of the game.
KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Pocket Presence: Tyrod Taylor bolted from the pocket way too quickly and held on to the ball way too long last week. He needs to be more comfortable in the pocket this week and learn to step up when pressure comes from the outside. He also must get rid of the ball and not take so many sacks.
2. Pressure Tannehill: Make things difficult for Tannehill, the more pressure the better the chance he will make mistakes.
3. Run The Ball: They need to take the pressure off of Taylor and stick with the offensive scheme as it is suppose to be. That means run the ball early and often. Last week they got away from a successful start to the running game. Miami has struggled stopping the run the first two weeks as they rank 27th in the league in that category.
BILLS DAILY PREDICTION
This game can go either way and it is a huge one. The Bills historically have done very well against Ryan Tannehill and the hope here is the defense is fired up after last week's terrible performance. I think they will rebound enough to pull off the victory in their first road game of the season:
Bills 17, Dolphins 13
Season Prediction Record: (0-2)
Season Record Against The Spread: (0-2)
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