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.
But where will the Dolphins struggle the most against Buffalo in 2020 after reinforcements and a new vision have Miami sitting in a different spot than years past? Where do the Dolphins have the biggest match-up issue at hand?
This team will need to learn how to contain Josh Allen. It’s an ironic twist of fate — a player that has routinely been made the butt of jokes for the rest of the league is absolutely unstoppable against the Dolphins. Sure, Allen has played Miami more than any other NFL team, but Allen has seven more touchdown passes (10) against Miami than he does against any other NFL team (3, New England Patriots). Allen averages 11 yards per rush (318 yards on 29 carries) against the Dolphins, nearly 200 more yards than his next best totals against a different team (139, New York Jets).
Allen is 1-5 combined against the Jets and Patriots but 3-1 as a starter against the Miami Dolphins.
For the Dolphins to recapture this divisional rivalry, they’re going to have to hope their new blueprint on defense is enough to stifle Josh Allen and bring him back to his level of play versus the rest of the league. Because against Miami, he’s been a juggernaut.