2020’s season-ending blowout not forgotten
Dolphins relish chance to avenge loss to Bills
MIAMI GARDENS — The Miami Dolphins had their playoff chances last season crushed by the Buffalo Bills.
Going to Buffalo in a win-and-in scenario, they suffered a demoralizing 56-26 defeat that not only kept the Dolphins out of the postseason in 2020 despite 10 wins, it showed there still was quite a bit of distance between them and the division-winning Bills. Buffalo went to the AFC Championship Game in the postseason.
How much can motivation from one season’s finale carry over to lift a team in an early-season rematch 8 ½ months later?
The Dolphins, 1-0 after last week’s 17-16 win in New England, can channel that and see if they can take a two-game lead on the Bills (0-1), the favorites to win the AFC East again this year, in a home opener and 1 p.m. kickoff Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.
“It didn’t go so well,” said Dolphins coach Brian Flores of the last time the Dolphins faced the Bills, which was in Orchard Park in January. “But last year is last year, just like last week was last week. We’re focused on right now. We’re focused on today. We’re focused on our preparation. Obviously, we’ve studied the game. There are a lot of things we didn’t do good enough. We’re trying to make those corrections and not make those mistakes again. They’ve got some new players and so do we. It’s different. We’re starting from scratch from that standpoint. It’s about the preparation this week.”
Dolphins players had to review the film from that game this week.
“I wouldn’t say it was painful. It was just disappointing,” linebacker Jerome Baker said. “We were just disappointed with how we played, and we knew we were a better team than that.”
Players from last year’s Dolphins roster that came up one win shy of a first playoff appearance since 2016 remember what losing by 30 to a division rival — including its backups in the second half — felt like, but they’re not preparing for the 2021 Bills any differently because of it.
“It definitely left a bitter taste in our mouth,” defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah said, “but no, we take every game the same way. Same approach. We’re going to have a good game plan for them. I’m sure they’re going to have a good game plan for us. We’ve just got to go out there and execute the game plan.”
Said All-Pro cornerback Xavien Howard, who forced a fumble that Miami recovered in the fourth quarter against the Patriots to win the opener in Foxborough: “I’m definitely not looking back, but it’s in my head, though, what they did last year. But it’s a new year. It’s a new team. New personnel. There are a lot of things that are going on, and we’ve just got to be prepared with what they bring this year.”
Newcomers to the Dolphins sensed that bitter taste Ogbah referred to in the offseason.
“I’ve sensed a hunger on this team since I got here and since we started, pretty much OTA workouts and meetings,” said outside linebacker Brennan Scarlett, who came over from the Houston Texans. “It’s carried on through training camp and Week 1. Now, yeah, for Week 2, that hunger remains.”
It’s a different season, but it’s also different elements. Whereas the Dolphins had to play in temperatures in the 30s in January in Buffalo, it will be in the upper 80s on Sunday afternoon in Miami Gardens, with high humidity and possible rain.
The Dolphins will also play in front of the first packed Hard Rock Stadium since the 2019 season, after capacity was limited to 13,000 during the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It definitely helps because we’ve got the home crowd, and we’ve got crowd noise,” Ogbah said. “The offense don’t like that, and we love that as a defense. It makes us better and it makes us get off the ball faster.”
The Miami defense will need that against the high-powered Bills offense, led by quarterback Josh Allen. In his six career meetings with the Dolphins, Allen has thrown for 17 touchdowns and just four interceptions. The past five of those six games were Bills wins.
The Dolphins’ nickel and dime packages will be tested as the Bills can spread the field with four or five receivers between Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasley, Emmanuel Sanders, Gabriel Davis and Isaiah McKenzie. They’ll want to be able to get pressure on Allen without having to bring extra pass rushers against the 6-foot-5, 237-pound signal-caller, who can also run and may require a spy on him defensively. In the traditional run game, Miami will look to contain South Florida product Devin “Motor” Singletary, who attended FAU and American Heritage-Delray.
They’ll have to do it without nose tackle Raekwon Davis, who injured his knee on the opening series last week and is now out at least three weeks on injured reserve.
“It’s nice to have other guys who can step up and have played a lot of football in this league and have a lot of experience,” defensive lineman Christian Wilkins said, referring to ninth-year defensive tackle John Jenkins, who is ready to step in. “Guys are just going to have to pick it up some way, somehow.”
The Bills’ defense likes to confuse opponents with a lot of different fronts and blitzes. It’ll be on quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the offensive line to handle that,as the offense will again be without free-agent acquisition Will Fuller, out Sunday for personal reasons.
Tagovailoa will look to keep his Alabama chemistry with rookie wide receiver Jaylen Waddle going after the two connected for Waddle’s first NFL touchdown last Sunday. DeVante Parker will likely have to work against Bills elite cornerback Tre’Davious White.
“He’s very patient,” Parker said. “He’s not going to go for that first move and you’ve got to switch it up against him at all times.”
It’ll help if the defense can continue forcing turnovers, as the Dolphins have done at least once for 23 consecutive games.
“The mindset of the defense is getting to the ball. That’s our main thing and that’s what everybody on the field wants to do is get to the ball,” said Howard, who had the big fumble recovery against New England’s Damien Harris last week, while Buffalo fumbled four times in its Week 1 loss. “I feel like there will be a couple of opportunities out there and how they play ball. Punching the ball, interceptions, everything — forced fumbles, everything that we’re going for. That’s what we do on defense is try to get the ball.”