Miami Dolphins (8-5) at Buffalo Bills (10-3)
Saturday, December 17, 8:15 PM ET
Over the last two weeks, the Miami Dolphins have pretty much given up their chances of dethroning the Buffalo Bills as AFC East champions this season. They’re probably not in danger of missing out on the playoffs, but Tua Tagovailoa simply cannot play the way we’ve seen the last two weeks if this team is going to be relevant in January and February.
A trip up into the elements of Buffalo will give the Dolphins yet another great test this season, but there’s no question that Tagovailoa has to play better.
Tua Tagovailoa in Week 14 loss to Chargers
- 10-of-28 passing (under 36 percent)
- 145 yards
- 1 TD
Completing just 10 passes out of 28 attempts is horrific, but thankfully for the Dolphins in 2022, it’s uncharacteristic of the way Tagovailoa has played. There has been much more MVP chatter than “wow Tua is bad” chatter.
Coming off of two straight losses and going into Buffalo is not exactly a prescription for a bounce-back, either. The Bills have won four in a row and are kind of rolling these days. Although the Bills got some terrible news that they’ll be without Von Miller for their playoff run, they’re proving that they can win with less than 250 passing yards from Josh Allen. The last time he eclipsed 250 passing yards was in the team’s overtime loss to the Vikings a month ago.
But we all know the Bills are fully capable of winning a shootout if that ends up happening as well. As much as the Dolphins need to bounce back, I’m taking the Bills at home here with the way Tua has played the last two weeks.
Prediction: Bills win 28-24