I'm not sure how anyone can root for every team in a division, but to each his own. I think all of us understand that the Bills are an improved team and they are a tough match up for the Dolphins, especially in Buffalo. As far as this game being "very telling" goes. All it will tell us is who the better team was on Sunday. It really won't tell us anything about how these two teams will play out the rest of the season. If one game was all you needed to see to determine how telling the season will be. Based on the game last week, the Dolphins are far superior to the Patriots and the Patriots are one of the worst teams in the NFL. Remember, on any given Sunday, any team in the NFL can beat another team. So no matter who wins or losses in Buffalo on Sunday, there will still be 14 regular season games left to determine who is the best team in the AFC East Division.
Wow you'd think Buffalo was some kind of early 90's juggernaught. Chicago had a -2 TO ratio and gave up 193 yard on the ground. but still held TOP and had 427 total yard while holding the Bills to 167 yards in the air. Bears had more 1st downs better 3rd down conversion %. I see nothing special that Buffalo did in that game. I am nt saying we are walking in a winning the game next week but we certainly aren't automatically losing it either. And the bad matchup has more to to with Miami's OL last year. Something that was addressed and played well last week. So we will see.
If ANY game on our schedule was an automatic loser, it would have been September 7th. SO many things were supposedly aligned against us, yet...
Look, no one is telling you to be a homer and no one questioned your fandom because of your prediction. You are being questioned because of your screen name not matching up with your claims of being a Dolphins fan, plus the attitude with which you made your prediction. Now the real question is....how come you don't have the sack to admit it?
Not saying it's an indicator or predictor of the game, of course, this is a divisional game that will be a slug-fest as usual, but I found the following interesting: Miami PFF Rankings: #1 Defense / #12 Offense Buffalo PFF Rankings: #32 Defense / #21 Offense Edit: And for the other 2... N. E. PFF Rankings: #30 Defense / #32 Offense N. Y. PFF Rankings: #6 Defense / #23 Offense
I still don't attempt to know how they figure that, but COOL. I'm not sure how Pats could be last on O. They did score 20 points. At least its somebody saying something good.
Hey Phin fans, Bills fan here. I usually just read what is on other teams forums prior to the game and not comment, however I felt I should register to comment on one thing. This is a classy board, and I truly enjoy reading your comments. Maybe being over 40 has turned me off to the constant smack talk on many other forums, or maybe I just don't get it. Anyway I plan on putting this site on my favorites just to check it out from time to time. I hope you guys lose this week, but will be cheering for you when you are in foxborough. Take care.
Welcome aboard. Trash talk is fine as long as you aren't a complete douche about it (see Pats fans). Looking forward to hearing from Bills fans this week. You guys have some good talent. With that said, may you catch an *** whooping on Sunday at the hands of our beloved Miami Dolphins.
Bills fan here. The LB were not great in coverage, but to be fair Matt Forte is a beast. And, our best coverage LB (not including Kiko who is out all year) is Bradham, who is back this week. The rook Brown did Ok for his first start.
As far as all the "experts" we all know that it does not mean much. But, you guys beat up the big brother of the AFC East. The immovable NE Patriots. HUGE win. You have also been a team on the rise the last couple of years. We are the Bills, no hype, no winning seasons in forever. BUT we did go into Soldier and knock off the Bears and looked solid in all 3 phases of the game doing it. Bills wont get respect until they win several more games and who cares really, we want a playoff birth. Nothing else matters. Both teams are on the rise and I for one think that they are pretty evenly matched, despite last years record against one another. Bills are at home and our ownership thing just got clear, thank god, so I give the Bills a slight edge. Lets us all hope the tide of the AFC East is switching from Pats, with Jets contending to the Bills and Phins once again fighting it out as it once used to be.
I thought Bills LBs were slow and were exposed a bit in the flat on screens and outside runs. They played well on the inside. On passes over the middle, Bills had good coverage. Manny Lawson is their best LB imo, He is fast and strong and makes plays in the backfield. Bills swarm the ball well. Bears do not run zone blocking scheme, I saw maybe a couple of plays total, so it's hard to evaluate how Bills D will perform against it, but the Bears had success on those couple of plays. I don't think Bills D practices against zone blocking either since the Bills do not run it. They do run some half zone kick step slides to the side but that is minor stuff, they hardly execute anything at the second level. Bills O lines up in option read formation, but they rarely play it. Manuel scored the first TD on option read and Spiller will sometimes bounce it to the outside form the offset I or split back. It's interesting to notice that Spiller lines up closer to QB when it's a run and a litte bit farther away when he goes to the flat, so I think you can actually tell the running play from the passing play.
I've been reading through this thread and see mostly well thought out arguments. However there is some misinformation out there. I would like to rectify some of this if you'll allow me. One poster had intimated that having lost Kiko Alanso and Jairus Byrd would cause our run D to be even worse (if that's possible) from last year. We were pretty bad last year even with these two players. While I will say, Kiko is the bigger hit here for the run D, Jairus was not a run stopping specialist. Rather he was a great ball hawk. Jairus was a sure tackler but usually when it was 10+ yards down the field. What's also not considered, the change of D coordinator from the aggressive, constantly blitzing to get to the QB, D of Pettine which would get thrashed every so often by the run, to Schwarts which specializes in stopping the run if you look at it's history. This cannot be understated. Another HUGE addition to the run D is Spikes, who is seen by many as the top middle linebacker against the run. So far so good against the run last week. That being said, we are in fact suseptible to pass catching RBs as evidence by Forte's success last week, and to big strong TEs which is why Moreno and Clay scare me a bit. Luckily for us, we get Bradham back this week who is better against the pass than Brown. For me, the game will be won in the trenches. We have a great matchup and a great measuring stick for each team's OL. The Bills have 3 new players this year on the line and they weren't able to play together much in preseason due to various injuries. So they're a work in progress which scares me against Wake and Co. Reading through this thread, I can see you are all worried about your own OL, and against this stout DL (which sent 3 to the pro bowl last year), there is reason to be optomistic for Bills fans. Finally, add in the fact that Mr. Pegula has been chosen for the purchase of the Bills and the Bills will be in Buffalo for the forseeable future, the Ralph will be ROCKING, which will be an emotional lift that I think will give the Bills just enough of an edge to take the win in a close one. It won't be easy, and even in loss, the Dolphin's fans will be excited for the future because they hung in there at the Ralph. I think the class of the division has seen a changing of the gaurd and there will be many closely contested nailbiters in the future for the two top teams in the division, the Bills and the Dolphins. Duking it out like the Kelly vs Marino days! (Not comparing these QBs specifically to those QBs lol). So here's to a good game this week! Good luck (but a side of worst of luck of course as Im a Bills fan :-P) this week!
This is going to be a tough game for sure...we have a completely different (as in 5 new starters) OL than we did last year and did a pretty good job particularly run blocking... our OL versus your DL is what destroyed us both times last season, I think this game is going to be a lot more evenly matched than the one in Buffalo last season. The Bills, on the other hand, look like are playing some very solid football. The one thing I am happy about is that the weather won't be in your favor at this time of the year. As a side note, you Bills fans seem to be much classier than the Pats trolls that appeared here before (and after, surprisingly) our game.. keep it up, don't disappoint us.
Nothing would make me happier than having the Dolphins and Bills being in a war for the division every year while the Pats and Jets lay in the gutter covered in their own vomit.
Hey, no reason we can't have a good conversation about our beloved teams without having to spout obscenities at each other! You guys gave a thrashing to the hated Pats and when it comes to the Pats, we're all in it together to bring them down. I think it will be a very close game as I said, for two very evenly matched teams.
Damn...right off the bat..I gotta say Bills fans have been much more impressive then Pats fans. We've had two really good new members show up and make some great posts. Welcome to thephins.com.....hope to see you around through the year!
Thanks! Someone on our forum said, Bill's fans don't need anyone to troll us, we beat ourselves up plenty. Nothing more obnoxious than a Pats or a Jets fan, exceptions apply of course.
Bills are actually tge division rival I dislike the least. Yeah I want to beat yiu but at least you don't have a smug crybaby QB/Coach combo like tge Patriots or a loudmouth coach like Rex Ryan. I like how you've built your roster for the most part. I just think EJ will really hold you back from possibly being a really strong team.
That is because I'm not sure Wallace IS trustworthy. He can't catch with his hands, his fingers don't seem to work. I did like Wallace's game Sunday better, but there were moments where #1's just make the play. Was there wind on the field Sunday? Brady was having accuracy issues as well... Not making excuses, but that was strange on several occasions.
To me, this is at least as big a game as the Patriots. The Bills beat us twice last year. They matched up very well against us. If we can beat them this year we will have visibly improved.
Looks like you guys will be down quite a bit on the front 7 from what I'm hearing/seeing? Very big news for Bills fans, as the Bills game plan will be to continue to run the ball, and let EJ only have to make very few throws to move the ball down the field. I do expect EJ to take some shots down field if you guys consistently stack the box to stop the run. Should be a fun filled game for both sides.
Chris McCain is missing his 2nd practice in a row, he is not even there, although there is a rumor he is sick, also surprising Randy Starks has his left foot in a walking boot
I'm not a Dolphin hater...justabillsfan! This is going to be a pivotal game for both teams with the Bills having more on the line to lose. Our season opener, tribute to Ralph Wilson, welcome new owner, having Jim Kelly cancer free, and trying to prove that the Bills are for real. Hope the the best prepare for the worse. Good luck fin fans!
We don't know that Randy is not playing yet, do we? Just being in a walking boot doesn't necessarily mean that.
This season certainly does hinge on EJs progression this year, and that's somewhat of a scary proposition. However, he did do what he needed to do last week and the NFL game rewind shows that he was actually progressing through his reads. That's a big step in the right direction. He was by no means a world beater, and hopefully this is not the exception and we can expect a fall back to the mean. EJ did well enough though, and the only hope us Bills fans have is that he stays consistently good as a caretaker. That's what he is right now with this run game and this defense. He's probably not good enough to win on his back at this point, but maybe one day. Bills plans should be run, run, and more run. The Phins know this, so its all going to be about the trenches. Can the Bills push the Fins line around or will they get dominated and be forced to make EJ beat them? Time will tell. Can't wait for Sunday!!
Here's a really good write up of the All-22 on what the Bills do well from a well respected Bills beat writer. Worth a read if you want to scout the Bills out a bit. http://www.wgr550.com/JW-All-22-Review-Bills-Bears/19869992
We must stop their run game. That should be our focus first and foremost. If we're going to be beat, we must make E.J. Manuel beat us. Obviously, Buffalo's D-Line is top notch and they destroyed us last season that way. Protect Tannehill and open some lanes for Moreno and Miller. Should be a good game. Going to be a lot of energy in that building. More so than usual with the news that they will be staying in Buffalo.
Also, is Sammy Watkins playing? I know he has a rib injury. I think they should play it safe and let him rest this week.