The Buffalo Bills are set to play the Miami Dolphins Saturday night for the second time this season and this matchup will be very different from their first meeting. The two teams met back in Week 3 in Miami and the Bills entered that game with a number of starters out. That group included Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde, Mitch Morse, Ed Oliver, and Dane Jackson.
On Saturday night, the Bills are much healthier with Ryan Bates and Jordan Phillips as the only players being ruled out for this game. They will also be without Von Miller for this game after his season-ending knee injury but do have Tre’Davious White back after he missed the beginning of the season.
Another big storyline from their first matchup was the weather as the Bills had a number of players deal with cramps due to the heat. The weather will once again have an impact on the game but for a very different reason as Orchard Park is forecasted to have over a foot of snow due to lake effect snow.
Final Score Prediction: Buffalo Bills 14, Miami Dolphins 6
The forecast for the game likely will limit what the Buffalo Bills are able to do through the air and this would appear to be bad news for an offense that has had trouble running the ball at times.
However, the Dolphins are even worse on the ground with an average of 89.8 yards per game, which is the fourth-lowest average in the league. This is not ideal for Miami, especially when considering the Bills’ defense is allowing the fourth-fewest rushing yards per game
The Dolphins run defense has played at a similar level after allowing only 108.7 rushing yards per game but the Bills’ offense is averaging over 40 more rushing yards than Miami with an average of 133.7 yards per game due largely to Josh Allen.
The Buffalo Bills are going to lean heavily on the run game and could see Josh Allen shouldering most of the load as they try to move the ball down the field in the snow. This is a game in that teams likely will not attempt any field goals but I believe the Bills find the end zone twice with one two-point conversion to give them just enough to come away with a win and secure a playoff berth.