The first step to having a successful season in the standings of any sport is to win within your division. By routinely being better than the teams you’ll face the most, logically you will set yourself up for success if you can find ways to translate that divisional success into even .500 play outside the division. For the Miami Dolphins, divisional successes have been a mixed bag for the past several years.
The Dolphins have found success against the New York Jets, but the other New York team has taken it to the Dolphins pretty good in recent years — the Dolphins are just 3-7 in their last 10 matchups against the Buffalo Bills going back to the 2015 season. Why is that, exactly? The Bills have been a team with a blueprint that embraces physical play — and up until the team’s 2019 rebuild Miami was more of a finesse team. The Bills simply beat the Dolphins up.
How can the Dolphins turn their fortunes around against the Bills? What does Miami have to their advantage now to inspire that the team can find wins versus what were previously losses?
Miami’s overhauled offensive line should be able to firmly dig their heels in the ground and hold their anchor against the Buffalo defensive line. The Bills have a defensive front highlighted by 2019 1st-round pick Ed Oliver (287 pounds) and veterans Star Lotulelei, Mario Addison and Jerry Hughes — all who are over the age of 30. If the Dolphins want to beat the Bills, they’ll need to flip the script and lean heavy on the Bills front in the trenches and hope to flip the script versus what this battle has looked like in years past. At the very least, the Dolphins provide a more unified front with a clear blueprint of who they want to be — a team that throws their weight around in the trenches.
The Dolphins can now at least fight fire with fire against the Bills at the line of scrimmage and hope the play elsewhere on the field and perform better than in recent memory.