The Bills are 2-0 to start the season with a short week ahead. Buffalo is hosting Miami for their first of two Thursday Night Football games. The Bills have won the last nine home games against the Dolphins--that's every game since head coach Sean McDermott took over in 2017.
Here's are the top five storylines to get you ready for Week 3.
1. Josh Allen vs. Miami
Bills quarterback Josh Allen has done some of his best work against the Dolphins. Allen has 13 wins in 15 career games, including the playoffs.
The QB currently has a six-game win streak going against Miami. In 15 games against the AFC East foe, Allen has 339 completions, 4,089 passing yards and 45 total touchdowns. He averages three touchdowns, 272.6 passing yards and a 107.6 passer yard rating per game in his career against Miami.
"I think Josh knows that they're one of the teams in our division that has a chance," Dawkins said of why Allen takes Miami seriously. "He does a good job of preparing for division opponents."
Buffalo has also scored at least 30 points in 11 of those 13 wins. Their two losses have only been by a combined six points.
Even though Allen and his team have seen so much success against Miami, offensive coordinator Joe Brady says his QB is anything but complacent.
"I don't think you become as elite of a player as he is, without wanting to just continue to get better," Brady said of Allen. "And there's no complacency with him, and that's why our offense and our team is that same way. Because if you see your best player with that, it's hard to do anything else."
2. Bills continue their takeaway streak
The Bills have started their season with two straight games with a takeaway. The defensive line has owned both. Defensive end Joey Bosa, who's had a productive start to the season, forced a fumble on the Jets' second possession of the game. The Bills followed by putting three points on the scoreboard.
Defensive coordinator Bobby Babich believes takeaways are momentum givers for Buffalo.
"Certainly built a little momentum," Babich said of the play. "…Within four plays, we have a takeaway and a three and out. That's certainly going to help you have a chance to win."
Buffalo's defense gave the team momentum at the end of Week 1 and early on in Week 2. Forcing turnovers was a big part of Buffalo's identity on defense last season as they had the third most in the league (32).
Buffalo doesn't just have a two-game streak going. They have forced a takeaway in six straight regular season games dating back to Week 15, 2024.
The Bills have also not lost the turnover battle in 24 games (including playoffs). It's the longest active streak in the league since 1950. The last time a team had a streak of at least 20 games was when the New England Patriots did it from 2006-07.
McDermott said it comes down to their fundamentals and it's something they must continue going forward.
"Fundamentals are huge for us," McDermott said as the reason why the takeaways happen. "The game is, when you really break it down, it comes down to fundamentals and taking care of the football…So, we've got to make sure we take care of that thing and continue to play violently in order to take it away."
3. Could Bills run game go off against Miami?
Buffalo's run game has started off the season with a bang. The Bills have six rushing touchdowns through two games.
While Buffalo didn't have an enormous number on the ground in Week 1, they did have success running it in the low red zone. Buffalo had three rushing touchdowns in their win against the Ravens.
Week 2 is when Buffalo's rushing offense really came to life. The Bills collected another three rushing touchdowns and running back James Cook had a game to remember. Cook was handed the rock 21 times and went off for 132 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. He averaged a solid 6.3 yards per carry, while quarterback Josh Allen averaged a whopping 9.8. The Bills finished with 224 rushing yards, their most since 2023 (Week 15 vs. DAL).
"The guy's an absolute worker," offensive coordinator Joe Brady said of Cook. "He's a baller. When the ball is in his hands, good things will happen. I think sometimes the running back position, people don't value it as much--we do. And there's a reason he obviously earned this contract."
The Bills could show why they value the RB against Miami. The Dolphins have struggled to stop the run to start the season. They're allowing an average of 139 rushing yards per game, which is bottom 10 in the league. They allowed 156 yards on the ground to the Colts in Week 1 and 122 to the Patriots in Week 2.
4. A Dolphins OL that's already reshuffling
Miami spent the offseason reformulating their offensive line. Veteran LT Terron Armstead retired, and the Dolphins plugged in former second-round pick Patrick Paul to man the left tackle spot. This year's second-round pick, Jonah Savaiinaea was fitted at the left guard spot next to him. Aaron Brewer was signed in free agency to man the pivot, as well as James Daniels to play right guard. The only holdover from the 2024 season was right tackle, and former first-round pick, Austin Jackson.
After one game, the Dolphins lost both Daniels and Jackson to multiple week injuries, sending both to I-R, and forcing Miami to revamp the right side of their offensive line on the fly. Kion Smith was lined up at right guard for his first career start Sunday against the Patriots, and veteran free agent signee, Larry Borom manned right tackle on Miami QB Tua Tagovailoa's blind side.
It did not go well. Miami's passing game is designed to get the ball out fast to reduce the demand on protection, and Tagovailoa did produce putting up 315 passing yards. But he was also sacked five times including the final two plays on offense for Miami, when they needed a touchdown down by six in the final minute of regulation. Smith and Borom were beaten by Patriots DT Milton Williams for a sack on fourth down to force a turnover on downs allowing New England to kneel out the clock.
"That was really frustrating," said Tagovailoa of their final drive. "It was frustrating with the communication, with the guys inside the huddle and then what the personnel is, then the play for those guys. Do we have too many guys in, why do we have another guy running in? Just the whole operation of that was not up to standard, was not up to par and I've got to do a better job with our guys in that sense."
Offensive linemen for the Dolphins were flagged for six penalties, though not all of them were enforced, with four holding penalties and a pair of false starts. And that was at home. The task for the right side of the line for the Dolphins will be all the more challenging in a road atmosphere like Buffalo in primetime.
5. Miami defense still looking for answers
The Dolphins defense has found getting stops difficult through their first two games this season. In Week 1, they did not force the Indianapolis offense to punt once in a 33-8 loss.
In Week 2, Miami's defense gave up back-to-back touchdown drives followed by a field goal drive to start the game. Only a Patriots QB Drake Maye kneel down at the end of the first half brought an end to the Dolphins streak of 11 consecutive possessions in which they gave up points to their opponent.
They stiffened a bit in the second half, forcing their first three-and-out of the season before New England countered with a touchdown drive. Miami forced another punt and then got zero help from special teams or their offense. Miami surrendered a 90-yard kick return for a touchdown by New England and a Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa interception at the Dolphins 38 put the Patriots in position to add three more points as Miami lost by six (33-27).
"We can't wait until the second half to get a stop," said Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel. "We have to get off the field – 13 out of 15 is not good enough and we all know that. We've got to contest some things. We have to be tighter in our zones that we've been working on, and when we're not getting home, we have to find different ways to get home. I think that's the biggest thing is there's been too much time of possession. The opponents had the ball more than us by a wide margin and we need to fix that."
It's early in the season, but the Dolphins defense is last in the NFL in opponent drive scoring percentage with opponents scoring on 75 percent of their possessions. Miami is also last in average points per drive given up at 3.69 points allowed per opponent possession.
