Bills vs Dolphins: Advantage Bills

Bills vs Tannehill Game Plan is to hit em and hit em again

4^th quarter comebacks. What happens in these games is the teams get more aggressive as time is running out because they will lose if they don’t. It’s the kind of thing that happens every week in the NFL. The Browns and Patriots score 33 points in 57 minutes and then 20 in the last three. The Eagles score 6 points against the Lions in 46 minutes and then 28 in the final 14 minutes. The Pats and Dolphins score 20 points in 45 minutes and then 24 in 15 minutes.

This is the danger facing the Dolphins when they visit the Buffalo Bills. Already eliminated from the playoffs the Bills enter the game with nothing to lose and everything to gain. The Dolphins can expect 60 minutes of 4^th quarter football from the Bills and will quickly find that their gameplan isn’t going to work on this Sunday.

The Dolphins long day will begin with Thad Lewis starting the 4^th game of his career. You can expect Thad to start where he left off in his last game vs the Bengals. A game where he completed 60% of his passes with no INT’s and 2 fourth quarter for 2 TD’s to send the game into overtime. Thad isn’t in line for the starting job at this point and will be playing fast and loose in audition mode. The Dolphins will find themselves in catch-up mode very early and that’s Miami’s 2^nd problem.

Having to rely on Tannehill to get the job done against a strong pass rush that knows what’s coming just won’t work. In the last meeting Tannehill had two interceptions, one that was returned for a touchdown and another in the end zone, as a late fumble that set up the winning field goal. He’ll be lucky to escape that easily this week when DC Pettine lets the dogs of the leash early and often. Look out Ryan baby, that’s Mario, Kyle, Marcel, Jerry, Manny, and Kiko are on your tail!  It’s going to be the kind of day where Tannehill can claim a victory if he makes it through 4 quarters.

Next items in favor of the Bills are the intangibles. The Dolphins are being told the playoffs are on the line. Might as well tell them they will win a unicorn or something else they’ve heard of but never seen. Playoffs?  Teams like the Ravens, Saints, or Patriots go to the playoffs. Nobody from Miami goes. The skill players think the playoffs are an owners trick to get them to play for a small game check.
The Bills have no such illusions. This is game 15 of the 16 they signed up for. It’s against a team that has won 4 more games than them in the past 3 seasons and suddenly thinks it moved into the big house on the hill. It’s a game where individual beat-downs are called for and that’s what to expect. Nobody’s knocking on the door of the big house, their kicking it in.

What my Bills need now is some old fashioned fan support. Forget about what other teams are doing it has nothing to do with the Bills getting better. It’s too late to lift the blackout but we can all show up tomorrow, buy tickets, and fill the stadium. We may be overall losers again this year but there’s no quit in Buffalo and tomorrow we can be winners.

Spot the Looney
Buffalo Bills Fan,
vegetarian, &
humanitarian.