The Miami Dolphins will play their next football game on Sunday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium, ushering in the Tua Tagovailoa era in South Florida on November 1st. The AFC East has logged each of their games for Week 7 — the Buffalo Bills survived an upset effort from the New York Jets and the New England Patriots were shellacked at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers. The latest events of the AFC East leave the division with the following outlook entering Week 8 of the 2020 season:
1st – Buffalo Bills (5-2)
2nd – Miami Dolphins (3-3)
3rd – New England Patriots (2-4)
4th – New York Jets (0-7)
Miami is effectively 2 full games behind the Bills at this point, given that they’ve lost their head to head matchup with Buffalo earlier this year. That will sort itself out, however, as the Dolphins and Bills have a date in Week 17 to try to even up the score. Dolphins head coach Brian Flores often impresses onto his players to take things one day at a time — and we’ll try our best to apply that same approach. But instead of taking things one day at a time, we’ll be forecasting the Dolphins’ outlook one month at a time.
As October comes to a close, the Dolphins are in 2nd place in the AFC East and one game behind the Indianapolis Colts for the 7th seed in the conference. Where will they be at the end of November? We’ll take a look at Weeks 8-12 of the 2020 NFL season and forecast what the AFC East will look like come December 1st.
Week 8 (10/29 – 11/2)
Patriots vs. Bills (W)
Rams vs. Dolphins (W)
Chiefs vs. Jets (L)
The New England Patriots have owned the Buffalo Bills for the last 20 years. Remember: these two teams play twice a year and yet the Bills have managed just 5 wins against the Patriots since the year 2000. Yikes. But the good news is that these are not your standard New England Patriots; look for a Bills win at home to further cast New England down the standings.
Meanwhile, in South Florida, the Dolphins get the chance to unveil their new quarterback with a number of advantages. Miami is playing a west coast team at home in the South Florida humidity at 1PM. And the Rams will be on short rest, too — they play tonight on Monday Night Football to close Week 7. Add all that up, Miami’s strong play of late and the team coming off the bye and almost assuredly adding some new wrinkles? Give us a Dolphins win over the Rams.
The Jets are not going to beat the Chiefs. Period.