4 Down Territory: Week 2 vs Miami Dolphins

Coming off of a Week 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Buffalo Bills will look to rebound against the Miami Dolphins in this Divisional Matchup.  While the Bills have enjoyed some success against the Dolphins (winning 5 out of the last 6) the Bills will have to correct some mistakes made last week to do so.  

Photo from lineups.com

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First Down: Familiar Foe

Coming off a Week 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Josh Allen will look to rebound in week two, and most think that he has the perfect opponent to do so.  Allen is 5-1 against the Miami Dolphins compiling a 17-4 Touchdown to Interception ratio with over 1,500 yards passing and also 350+ yards rushing with 3 more touchdowns on the ground.  Although Miami has been steadily adding to their defense the last few years, hopefully some type of comfort level for Allen will result in a victory today.
Photo from dolphinswire

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Second Down: Timing is Everything

With a young quarterback at the helm for Miami, the veteran receiver group of DeVante Parker, Albert Wilson and Jakeem Grant along with rookie Jaylen Waddle will give the Dolphins some firepower against the Buffalo Secondary.  To combat this, look for Buffalo to play man-to-man coverage to hopefully knock the receivers off their routes and disrupt the timing, giving the Buffalo pass rush time to get to Tua.
Photo from Sun Sentinel

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Third Down: Polar Opposites

I am pretty sure that no one will confuse Ben Roethlisberger and Tua Tagovailoa in a lineup, so the defensive game plan for the Bills will look different this week.  The Bills ran primarily a Nickel defense last week (5 defensive backs) which resulted in AJ Klein only playing 33% of the defensive snaps.  Look for that number to increase this week, as the Bills want to pressure Tua often as he doesn’t get the ball out of his hands quite as fast as Big Ben. 
Photo from BuffaloFanatics​

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Fourth Down: On the Run

The Pittsburgh Steelers were able to generate pressure with their front four last week, leaving the Buffalo Bills playing 4 on 7 in the secondary for the passing game.  Devin Singletary enjoyed some success on the ground rushing 11 times for 72 yards, however he did fumble the ball twice.  If Miami hopes to try the same approach, look for Buffalo to mix in the run game more and the short screen game to get pressure off of Allen.  If Allen has 50+ attempts once again, it means that Buffalo’s offense, especially their offensive line, had a long day. 
Photo from ProFootballNetwork​

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