Well, the bye week is over and it's time to get back to winning football games. Figured this could be the thread to talk about the upcoming game against Buffalo. The Bills come in and this will be our first division game of the season. As we all know, these games always carry a little more weight and we have to win these games if we want to be a playoff team. Thad Lewis suffered a foot injury yesterday but as of right now it looks like he's going to play. We usually struggle against running QBs but the good news is we have some tape on him to go on now, which I feel always helps. The Bills have some weapons on offense in Johnson, Spiller, Jackson, Chandler, Goodwin, etc. So despite an inexperienced QB, it's going to be a challenge. On defense they are loaded up front with Mario Williams, Marcell Dareus and Kyle Williams and they have an absolutely stud in Kiko Alonso at linebacker who right now is looking like a runaway Rookie of the Year winner. IMO, their secondary isn't as good so plays will be there to be made in the passing game. The key to this game for me is simple. Protect Tannehill and protect the football and we should be able to win this game. I'm hoping the bye week proves to be a blessing in disguise for the offensive line, to get their feet under them and start playing better. I know they're tired of hearing about how bad they are, so this is their chance to go out and prove themselves. Discuss.
Worried about their defensive line. Jerry Hughes has been pretty active this year too and is sneaky fast. Spotlight is on Sherman, either he's going to adjust to the pressure schematically or he gets the line recentered and playing better. We'll see.
Dead on about the OLine. If we can get a run game established we will dominate Buffalo, if not it'll be another close game that goes either way.
Yup, I feel like if we ever establish a running game we will be tough for anyone to beat. Really looking forward to see if the coaching staff has anything up their sleeve when it comes to dealing with the offensive line woes. Would love to see some rollouts and screens called.
In order to do this we need to execute well and run HARD when we have oppurtunities, that will put us into good early situations that will dictate more carries..someone needs to run with a fu&$in attitude on this team..
Thats on Philbin IMO. Sherman says he isn't calling runs cause Joe wants to throw vs the looks we are getting. And even if Sherm is lying Philbin could force the run calls if he wanted to.
Game reminds me of the Browns game. We should take this one without much trouble. If we don't...some people may want to avoid the Internet for a bit.
That's not any different than any loss in Dolphin land though. Remember how the season was over and everyone should be fired when we lost to the Ravens?
I agree but OTOH the Bills beat Baltimore, lost on last second FGs to NE and Cincy, two teams you think are better than us. So I'm curious why you think we should handle them any better than the Ravens, Pats or Bengals?
Oh, so I was making up all the "fire Jeff Ireland" tweets I read the 2 days following the game? Nope. I didn't. And there were also people on twitter saying they lost confidence in Philbin because of the whole spike thing. Saying they didn't think he was "the guy" anymore because of it. I remember because it pissed me off. So, yeah, I'm not pretending anything.
Missing Manuel is a big deal. Thad Lewis is much more solid than Tuel, but he's not their starter. Now, he's got a hurt foot. I watched the Cincy game. He hurt them with his elusiveness. Even if he plays, the hurt foot will impact him. Also, teams were scrambling to find tape on this guy. ANY tape. Now they've got a game's worth of fresh tape to reference. That's going to help us catch up to him. I don't see how it would be so contradictory that I think the Dolphins should beat the Bills despite their playing the Bengals and Patriots tough. I thought the Browns would be solid this year, but that the Dolphins would beat them handily because of circumstances. Very similar situation here. Bills could take the second game against us when they circle back and Manuel is in the game, though.
People have been espousing the firing of Jeff Ireland even after wins. He's a controversial figure and many dont think he's doing his job well. They say the same about Daniel Thomas, win or lose. Do you only pay attention to it when they lose, to where you come away thinking that after every loss "the fans" want every player cut? I don't know anyone that said Philbin should be fired. Saying you're not convinced he's THE guy at head coach is an extremely obvious observation. He's not earned that designation yet.
Yes, Ireland is extremely controversial, but the call for his head was essentially silent when we were 3-0. Even after the Saints game people were relatively calm because we knew it was the toughest game on the schedule. Then last week all hell broke loose. Not really sure what the point of this debate is anyway. I was just making a statement saying fans were predictably overreacting after the loss last week. I saw it non-stop for 2 days. Both here and on twitter. You may not have saw the same stuff I did, or you may have looked at it in a different light, but it was there.
Hmm, to me, we seem fairly well matched Of course a healthy Kraken is a difference maker, so is Patterson for Carrol. We are getting healthy at the right time for this game.
I think we do have the franchise QB & HC that we have been so anxiously awaiting... things look good to me. just want to see if the fix is in week six for the sack dilemma. could manifest itself in many ways, however the buck stops with the coaches. this is a test of their metal... no more excuses. given that Tannehill is reasonably protected in whatever scheme or improvements they install to achieve that end, I see not only a victory against Buffalo but the play-offs on the horizon. Miami by 10! week six is the crucible in 2013.
Should win this one, but I'm always wary of saying a divisional game's a "should win"! Lewis playing with an injured foot will help us out, will hopefully negate any issues we have with tackling running QB's. He's also had his decent game against the Bengals, which a lot of surprise starting QB's have in their first game with the opposition having no tape, so I'm hoping the nerves and mistakes will start creeping in now...especially against a fired up defense and a raucous Miami crowd.
coming off the bye week, getting healthier. We win this game, but by single digits. our Oline plays better, but keeps us from blowing them out.
This is a game that the Fins should win by 7-10 points. If we lose this one, it's an indication that this season is not going to go very well and making 500 will be a struggle. Just as the Ravens game was an indicator of whether we were ready to challenge for the AFC East (we are not), this game is an indicator of whether we've improved enough to have a winning season and perhaps make a wildcard spot.
He didn't look like a practice squad QB against the Bengals. Made a lot of plays against the defense that ended Tom Brady's 52 game TD streak.
I'll call it now, think ST is due for another impact play, think Thigpen houses one or has an over 50 yd return for this one.
Bills are 2nd in the league with 21 sacks. Need to bring our big boy panties and play tough at home, or we will lose. Need to establish a run game and keep Tannehill upright. Need to pressure the inexperienced Lewis and disrupt and force into errant throws.
Good DLine in Buffalo, but we lucked out with all their injuries and revolving door at QB. Stevie Johnson, who I'm a big fan of, is iffy for them as well coming off a back. Pretty crazy that they took Cincy to OT with that deep ball to Goodwin that the Bengals totally bungled. But I don't think we'll have much of a problem this week. Phins by at least a touchdown.
While I think the Bills are underrated, and we certainly have one big flaw that plays into one of the Bills strengths, this game is a litmus test for Philbin and his coaching staff for me. I've respected Philbin so far, I think he's a good, even-keeled coach, and all that jazz, but if they don't win Sunday, after having two weeks to figure out a solid game plan that will try to hide or minimize our weak points, then - in my mind anyways - he and his staff aren't capable of doing so and should be replaced. Now, that said, I think they are capable of it, and I think we'll see more of an offensive game plan that will take advantage of Ryan's athleticism and get him out of the pocket - as well as play calls that will help against a solid pass rush. We've had two weeks, plenty of Bills film to look at, and we're playing at home, not in snowy Buffalo. AND, not to mention the Bills QB situation at this point. It's time to get it done Philbin! Show us you are capable of it - its something Don Shula back in the day would've owned. Show us you belong here long term, and can get this done! I mean, if we lose THIS game, considering the conditions going in, we're in a heap of trouble.
I think being unable to predict the outcome of that game shows that Aqua is too biased in favor of the Dolphins to be accurate on his predictions. He's just picking in favor of the Dolphins in all but the most obvious situations.
Hi guys. With the bye, I took a few days away from the forum. That said, I still maintain that if we had better protection in that final drive against the Ravens, we win that game. Similarly, this game will come down to how well our O-line plays and/or how well Tanny and Sherman can improvise if the pocket starts collapsing quickly. I do think we win this one, but it won't be easy. I'm thinking something like 23-20 and Dan Carpenter makes a long one for them...
I am very interested to see if/what changes were made on the bye week. Philbin and staff had an extra week to evaluate where we are and what we need to do. Well coached teams usually come out of a bye playing well. We shall see how we do...
