TONY’S TAKE – A PREVIEW OF BILLS-DOLPHINS
- Tony Fiorello
- Nov 9
- 21 min read
by Tony Fiorello
Welcome to Week 10 of the 2025 NFL season. Here at Buffalo Sports Page we will attempt to inform and educate our readers about the Buffalo Bills’ upcoming opponent and what each team might do to emerge victorious.
The Bills’ ninth game of 2025 will take place at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida as they face the Miami Dolphins. Here’s what you should know:
MIAMI’S OFFENSE STRUGGLING, BUT SPEEDY
After winning 10 games in 2020 for just the third time since 2008, owner Stephen Ross gave recently-canned general manager Chris Grier – the brother of ex-Buffalo Sabres winger Mike Grier – the authority to build the team as he and former head coach Brian Flores saw fit. However, after a nine-win campaign in 2021 Grier decided to make a coaching change and replaced Flores with then-San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel.
McDaniel – a longtime protégé of Mike and Kyle Shanahan – has brought their version of the West Coast offense to South Beach. The system is very creative in its ability to attack matchups and utilizes a lot of play-action passes, bootlegs and rollouts designed around the threat of outside-zone runs.
The Dolphins’ running philosophy relies on a mobile offensive line that pushes defenders from sideline to sideline on “stretch” runs that encourages its tailbacks to find holes on the opposite side of the play’s direction and cut back against the grain. Executing these blocks are Patrick Paul, Jonah Savaiinaea, Aaron Brewer, James Daniels and Austin Jackson (Daniels and Jackson are both injured and have been replaced by Cole Strange and Larry Borom) and versatile fullback Alec Ingold is one of the league’s best.
While the outside/wide zone is the team’s foundational run, McDaniel will also use power plays, traps, sweeps and counters as a changeup tactic and will throw in some misdirection concepts like end-arounds and reverses as well. These are usually carried out by a speedy threat in De’Von Achane (who is excellent on angle routes out of the backfield). This system has made many a star of running backs for decades and most of Miami’s runs are executed out of “21” personnel (two backs, one tight end).
The reason why the Shanahan coaching tree likes to have two running backs on the field most of the time is to give credibility to the belief that they will call a running play at any time while also taking advantage of smaller defenders who are used to being on the field to stop the pass and forcing the opposition to use more basic coverages. According to former MMQB/SI writer Andy Benoit, “Shanahan plays with two backs more than any schemer, by a wide margin…. with two backs in, the Niners compel defenses to prepare for more run possibilities, which limits their options in coverages. Shanahan exploits the suddenly predictable coverages through route combinations or mismatch-making formation wrinkles.”
Wideouts Tyreek Hill (out for the season with a knee injury, replaced by Malik Washington) and Jaylen Waddle are similar receivers – each are polished route runners, have good hands and speed to burn, and are adept at picking up yards after the catch, especially on in-breaking routes. They can also return punts in a pinch and are liberally used by McDaniel in jet and orbit motion to influence defenders’ responsibilities and create leverage and space.
Hill and Waddle are also dangerous ballcarriers and will sometimes line up at running back.
Hill is perhaps the league’s fastest player and can line up anywhere – out wide, in the backfield and in the slot, where he is especially dangerous on post routes out of trips formations. The “Cheetah” was on pace to break the NFL’s single-season record for yardage two years ago before an injury derailed those aspirations – Hill and Waddle’s speed dissuades the opposition from using single-high coverages against them. Veteran tight end Darren Waller has come out of a one-year retirement to give the Dolphins a third viable receiving target, and his backups are Greg Dulcich and Julian Hill.
Like his colleagues, McDaniel will have his wide receivers, running backs and tight ends line up in unusual places in the formation to determine if defenses are playing man or zone coverage and will have his wide receivers stay inside the numbers to give them extra room to run routes and to serve as additional blockers. His scheme makes excellent use of shifts and motions, especially to create false reads and favorable angles in the running game, and the receivers’ pass patterns work well off one another with many intersecting routes at all three levels.
At the helm of this attack is signal caller Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa, a rhythmic, precision passer, has most of his passing concepts come in the form of short and intermediate plays over the middle to play to his strengths as an intelligent passer who can get the ball out on time and hide his limitations – particularly an arm that isn’t one of the league’s strongest – and he also isn’t comfortable going to his second and third reads to the outside in pass progressions. Nevertheless he finished first in the NFL in passing yards in 2023, but Tagovailoa has a long history of concussions and while he’s healthy now his career and well-being are in question.
Early in 2023 the Dolphins had a 70-point, 700-yard performance against the Denver Broncos (becoming the first team ever to put up both numbers in one game, the first to score 70 in a game since 1966 and just the fourth team ever to score 70 in a game) and were second in points, first in passing and total yards and sixth in rushing. Last year (mainly due to the absence of their quarterback for an extended stretch) Miami was in 22nd scoring, 18th in total yards, 15th in passing and 21st in rushing, and in 2025 it’s been more of the same without Hill as they’re 23rd or worse in most offensive categories. The Dolphins also have the most turnovers in the league and they’re second-last in turnover differential.
Miami has shown to have one crucial weakness – while they are excellent out of their 3x1 (three wideouts on one side, one on the other) formations, they can be predictable in 2x2s (two on each side). They love to use play-action in this set and zone runs compared to gap runs in 3x1s – for more info, read this: What a difference one change in alignment makes for the Dolphins - Sports Info Solutions.
DOLPHINS’ DEFENSE NOT UP TO PAR
Heading into 2024, McDaniel had a new play-caller on this side of the ball for the third consecutive year and will go into ’25 with the same face for once. After inheriting Josh Boyer from Flores’ old staff in 2022 and trying out one of the best defensive minds in the NFL in Vic Fangio a year later, McDaniel did an about-face and switched to former Baltimore Ravens defensive line coach (and ex-Houston Texans coordinator) Anthony Weaver.
Weaver, naturally, brings a Ravens-flavor to South Beach. Baltimore traditionally has one of the most effective blitzing defenses in the NFL and mostly do so on overload and fire zone rushes out of single-high coverage looks – which aren’t totally foreign to the Dolphins given that Boyer employed similar coverage concepts on the back end.
Miami has done nearly a complete facelift in their secondary. Gone from last year are Jordan Poyer, Jevon Holland, Marcus Maye, Jalen Ramsey and Kendall Fuller and the leader of the new group is versatile safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who is in his second stint as a Dolphin after being reacquired from Pittsburgh. Capable of playing outside cornerback, nickel, centerfield as a single-high safety or in the box to help stop the run, Fitzpatrick is a good fit for Weaver’s preferred Cover One and Three pass defenses.
Fitzpatrick is joined by Rasul Douglas, an ex-Bill who has great size and length, is versatile and a gambler – he can take chances because he understands route combinations very well. Kayden Kohou normally mans the slot but is injured, and Ashtyn Davis, Jack Jones, Ethan Bonner, Jason Marshall and Dante Trader round out this crew.
At linebacker the Dolphins employ another former Bill in Tyrel Dodson and Jordyn Brooks. Zach Sieler (who had a breakout campaign in ’24), Bradley Chubb, Demeioun “Chop” Robinson, Matthew Judon, Benito Jones and rookie Kenneth Grant are Miami’s main defensive linemen.
In ‘23 Miami was 10th in total yards given up, 15th versus the pass, eighth in takeaways, seventh against the run and third in sacks. But they were 22nd in points allowed, and the Dolphins ended ‘23 with a 1-5 record against playoff teams with a -91 point differential against such opponents – only the New York Giants and Washington Commanders were worse. Last year they were 10th in points allowed, fourth in total yards surrendered, ninth versus the pass and against the run but just 27th in sacks and turnovers.
Like their offensive counterparts, Miami has been poor on defense. 24th or worse in every major category, they even have problems in defending the pass, where they rank 10th. That’s because they’ve surrendered the worst passer rating (114.4) and given up the highest completion percentage (74.1) in the NFL.
BUFFALO’S DEFENSE USUALLY GOOD, BUT HAS HAD A ROUGH 2024 AND ‘25
For most of head coach Sean McDermott’s time in Buffalo, the Bills’ defense was one of the league’s best. Points allowed (fourth in the NFL in that category in 2023), total yards per game allowed (ninth), passing yards given up (seventh), rushing yards surrendered (15th), takeaways (third), interceptions (tied for fourth) and sacks (fourth, tied for second-most in their history with the 2014 team) have generally been the categories that the Bills have excelled at over the years, with 2023’s sack total being the best of the McDermott era.
2024, however, was a year of transition for the Bills on defense. Due to age and salary cap complications, out the door were longtime veterans such as Jordan Poyer and Tyrel Dodson (Miami Dolphins), Tre’Davious White (Baltimore Ravens), Leonard Floyd (San Francisco 49ers, who had 10.5 sacks a year ago – the most of any Bill since Lorenzo Alexander in 2016), Linval Joseph (Dallas Cowboys), Tim Settle (Houston Texans), Kaylon “Poona” Ford (Los Angeles Chargers), Dane Jackson (Carolina Panthers) and Shaq Lawson.
Especially when one includes names from the past on the defensive line such as Kyle Williams, Marcel Dareus, Jerry Hughes, Mario Addison, Star Lotulelei, Quinton Jefferson, Carlos “Boogie” Basham, Trent Murphy, Vernon Butler, Justin Zimmer, Efe Obada, Harrison Phillips, Dawuane Smoot, Austin Johnson and Casey Toohill – that’s a lot of turnover during the last eight years. The answer, according to McDermott, general manager Brandon Beane and defensive coordinator Bobby Babich, is youth and cheap veterans to provide cost-effective depth (Buffalo made it to the AFC title game last year with the third-most dead money on the salary cap in the NFL and used just 71 percent of the cap).
Some of those younger players – albeit young veterans since they are in their fifth and sixth professional seasons, respectively – who have been asked to take on a greater role include Greg Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa (out for Sunday), who can line up both on the edge and go inside in passing situations. Da’Quan Jones, perhaps their best run-stuffing lineman, is effective on T-T stunts with Ed Oliver (out for the rest of the regular season), an excellent gap penetrator.
They are backed up by a familiar face in Jordan Phillips and second-year men Javon Solomon and DeWayne Carter (Carter is out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon) while rookies Deone Walker, T.J. Sanders (currently injured) and Landon Jackson learn the ropes of the NFL. Ex-Charger Joey Bosa, a five-time Pro Bowler and 10-year pro, will fill the role that future Hall of Famer Von Miller settled into after a torn ACL 11 games into his first season compromised his play on the field. Additionally, veterans Larry Ogunjobi and Michael Hoecht provide valuable depth (Hoecht, out for the season after tearing his Achilles tendon, is an intelligent and versatile chess piece who can be deployed in multiple ways).
Over the years Buffalo has been inconsistent in two areas – creating a consistent pass rush and stopping the run. The run issues are mainly caused by poor tackling (their missed and broken tackle percentage has been among the highest in the NFL for years), a lack of gap integrity and ability to get off blocks, subpar eye discipline, inefficient communication and an inability to handle motion and misdirection (which causes issues with leverage, spacing and run fits). Perhaps the infusion of new faces this season can eventually put those issues to bed once and for all, but they’ve reared their ugly heads yet again in 2025.
Schematically the Bills’ defense mostly relies on basic zones after the snap (they’re typically among the top units in the NFL in usage of coverages with two high safeties such as Cover Two, Four and Six, although they’ve used more single-high man coverages recently so they could put more bodies in the box to stop the run and to limit communication) but before the snap it is complex. Safety rotations to disguise their intentions keep opposing quarterbacks guessing and selective pressure looks at the line of scrimmage and coverage exchanges are the team’s calling cards.
Those blitz looks usually happen in the A-gaps with the smaller, but smart, speedy and athletic Matt Milano and Terrell Bernard to confuse opposing offensive lines and quarterbacks, but Buffalo rarely sends five or more pass rushers – their favorite blitz tactic besides A-gappers are four-man zone exchanges. In 2024’s regular season they were 27th in blitz rate but Buffalo blitzed Lamar Jackson on 15 out of 31 drop-backs (48.4%) in the playoffs, their fifth-highest blitz rate in a game under McDermott and their highest in a game since Week 15 of 2021, according to Next Gen Stats.
Bernard has become a good blitzer and coverage ‘backer – his 6.5 sacks in 2023 were the most by an off-the-ball linebacker in Bills annals and he became the first NFL player since Seth Joyner in 1991 with six sacks, three picks and three fumble recoveries in a season. He and Milano are also adept at being used to spy quarterbacks – they spied Jackson on every third down in last year’s postseason – but Bernard, like most of the Bills, has dealt with injuries and hasn’t quite looked like himself.
For the third straight year, Milano has suffered another major injury – this time a pectoral problem (although he’s healthy enough to play as of now). When he misses time, backup Dorian Williams usually picks up the slack. Williams displays flashes of quickness and burst but is sometimes slow to key and diagnose at the line of scrimmage. He also takes many false steps and needs to process better while in coverage, but is athletic, long and fluid and has improved with more experience game by game. He had increased playing time in the playoffs to stop Baltimore’s running game, as evidenced by being on the field for a third of Buffalo’s snaps.
Additional depth comes from former Carolina Panther Shaq Thompson (out for Sunday) and Joe Andreessen. Andreessen, a University at Buffalo product who hails from nearby Lancaster, showed excellent diagnostic skills at the line of scrimmage in the preseason while also displaying strong hands, a quick downhill trigger that allows him to shoot gaps well and some speed and range. It helps that he played in a similar role as Milano while in college. Thompson, meanwhile, has turned back the clock with some strong performances in pass coverage.
The Bills have mainly utilized nickel personnel, as evidenced by Buffalo using five defensive backs between 90 and 100 percent of their snaps since 2020 but their percentage of 4-3 base personnel has gone up this year to combat the run. When Milano is out with injury, they also increase their usage of dime personnel with three safeties to help offset his loss in pass coverage and in the past, that setup featured Poyer near the line of scrimmage, Micah Hyde and ex-Ram Taylor Rapp on the back end.
The Bills’ safety position is currently manned by Poyer and Cole Bishop (an underrated and cerebral athlete). Rapp, who is better playing near the line of scrimmage and the rangy and physical but inconsistent Damar Hamlin are both on injured reserve.
At the boundary cornerback spots are White (who, like Poyer, is back after a year away to replace Rasul Douglas) and Christian Benford and they are backed up by the tall and physical Ja’Marcus Ingram, Dane Jackson (another experienced face back on the practice squad) and speedy rookies Max Hairston and Dorian Strong (also on injured reserve). Slot corner Taron Johnson remains strong in the quickness and tackling departments and he’s backed up by Cam Lewis and rookie Jordan Hancock, who can both fill in at safety too.
2024 saw the Bills end the regular season 11th in points allowed, 12th against the run, 17th in total yards, tied for 18th in sacks and 24th versus the pass. They were also 29th in third down percentage, gave up the most completions, yards and touchdowns in the NFL on screen plays and allowed nine touchdowns on plays of four seconds or longer – the most in the league according to Cover 1’s Eric Turner. However, they were third in takeaways and were fifth-best in allowing plays of 20 yards or more.
Yet the team’s start to the 2025 season has been quite uneven. Although they’re second versus the pass, tied for eighth in sacks and ninth in points allowed, they’re just 12th in total yards given up and fifth-last versus the run (those numbers were made worse after Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson had 238 yards from scrimmage against them – the third-most the franchise has ever given up in a game). The Bills also aren’t getting the amount of takeaways they normally do, and they’ve taken too many penalties as of late. Clearly McDermott – who has had a bigger say in play-calling on gameday lately – and Babich have their work cut out for them on this side of the ball.
BILLS’ OFFENSE IS UPPER-ECHELON, BUT QUESTIONS PERSIST ABOUT PASSING GAME
For five consecutive seasons, the Bills boasted one of the NFL’s elite offenses for the first time since the K-Gun was running roughshod over the league more than 30 years ago. Led by quarterback Josh Allen’s improved processing skills both pre and post-snap, ball placement, patience within the pocket and touch on passes and a cadre of gifted pass-catchers, those factors allowed Buffalo to become one of the most feared attacks in pro football (last year Allen was ninth in passer rating and rushing touchdowns and tied for seventh in passing scores).
In 2023 the Bills were sixth in scoring, fourth in total yards, seventh in rushing and eighth in passing. They were also fifth in red zone efficiency, yet their offense performed poorly over a six-game stretch where they averaged just 20.5 points per game. It resulted in then-offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey getting the boot in favor of quarterbacks coach and former Carolina Panthers play-caller Joe Brady.
Like their defensive counterparts, the Bills went through changes on this side of the ball because of age, the salary cap and a new coordinator. With Brady taking over the role full-time, the biggest philosophical question on offense for Buffalo was how to retain elements of what made them so good in the first place while adding new and fresh concepts.
Between 2018 and ‘23, Buffalo’s offense was an Erhardt-Perkins system brought in from New England by then-coordinator Brian Daboll. It was built upon concepts involving option and crossing routes from the slot, downfield routes from the outside, run-pass options (especially in the red zone), designed quarterback runs to take advantage of Allen’s mobility and alignments that created favorable matchups and some trick plays with jet/orbit motion and sweeps. It was mostly out of “11” personnel groupings (one back, one tight end and three wide receivers) and “10” personnel (one back, no tight ends, four receivers) – and they would also go no-huddle from time to time to limit the opposition’s defensive calls.
The Bills’ multi-receiver sets were traditionally their offensive calling card. In 2020 they used four wide receivers or more 155 times – the second-most in the NFL at the time – and they utilized someone in motion on 43 percent of their offensive snaps, a huge increase from their 25 percent rate in 2019. Daboll, the ex-head coach of the New York Giants, also called for a passing play on 64 percent of their first downs, according to ESPN Stats and Information (no team with a winning record in the prior 20 years did it more than Buffalo) and that rate continued in 2021 and ’22 with “11” personnel used on nearly three-quarters of their plays.
Daboll’s successor, Ken Dorsey, got away from some of those concepts and tried to rely on the talent at his disposal winning one-on-one matchups instead of having the scheme get them open. Once Brady was promoted, the Bills returned to them. He also included more under-center formations and play-action (which can still stand to increase after being a top-four team in run-fakes in 2020 and ’21), pre-snap shifts, motions and designed passes to running backs and route combinations with defined reads for Allen so he can play within timing and structure.
Brady got his start in the NFL working for the New Orleans Saints and then-coach Sean Payton. Payton himself came from a melting pot of a background including stints running the Erhardt-Perkins scheme for Bill Parcells in Dallas and learning the West Coast offense from Jim Fassel with the New York Giants and from Jon Gruden during their one-year stint together in Philadelphia in 1997, so Brady will bring a similar approach to the table while likely keeping some things the same in Buffalo.
Their biggest transaction on offense last year was trading the aging Stefon Diggs to Houston. Diggs (now in New England), while never a burner on the outside, was an exceptional route runner who specialized in making contested catches and operated well out of bunch and stack formations – leading him to re-write many of the Bills’ single season receiving records.
In addition to Diggs, Buffalo has let veterans like John Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Cole Beasley, Isaiah McKenzie, Jamison Crowder, Trent Sherfield, Deonte Harty and Amari Cooper walk over the years. Many of them were productive, but nothing can last forever – hence the overhaul of the Bills’ wide receiver room.
The Payton offense is built through having big, physical targets who can get open over the middle of the field, especially on deep in-cuts, or “dig” routes. Payton has employed such players in those roles before like Marques Colston, Jimmy Graham, Michael Thomas and Courtland Sutton, and the drafting of Keon Coleman from Florida State last year fits the bill for Brady. Coleman, whose game evoked comparisons to Colston, Brandon Marshall and Anquan Boldin coming out of college, brings size and physicality to the boundary ‘X’ position (and possibly the slot) with good body control and strong hands to make contested catches and has some run after the catch ability. He does need to work on his speed, quickness and ability to beat press coverage, but in time he may improve in those areas.
Along with Coleman is Curtis Samuel, who can line up both in the slot and outside the numbers and take handoffs and free agent pickups Josh Palmer (out for Sunday) and Elijah Moore. Shifty pass-catcher Khalil Shakir mans the slot with his quickness, sure hands and savviness to get open versus zone coverage, Gabriel Davis has returned to the practice squad to supply depth along with the speedy Mecole Hardman and Tyrell Shavers could prove to be a new weapon after making the team’s active roster out of training camp. Overall, this group doesn’t possess a ton of speed – which makes the ability to manufacture intermediate and vertical plays harder.
Tight end Dawson Knox is joined by third-year man Dalton Kincaid and their diverse skillsets have allowed the Bills to throw curveballs at opponents with multiple tight end sets. Kincaid, who can line up as the boundary ‘X’ receiver in three-by-one alignments, lived up to the hype with 73 receptions as a rookie, the most of any first-year Bill and surpassed Pete Metzelaars for the most catches by a Bills tight end in one season. He also became the fourth rookie tight end since 1960 with 70 or more catches in a year.
The Bills’ offensive line is composed of Dion Dawkins, David Edwards, Connor McGovern (taking over at center for the departed Mitch Morse), O’Cyrus Torrence and Spencer Brown. This crew, along with fullback Reggie Gilliam has mainly executed outside zone runs along with zone-reads, pin-and-pull concepts, traps (especially with Dawkins as the puller), counters, sweeps, split inside zone/duo and sprint draw plays sprinkled in for running back James Cook. Cook, who boasts great vision, patience and burst, is backed up by physical second-year man Ray Davis and ex-Jet Ty Johnson brings solid receiving skills to the table.
The starting front five used to be iffy in providing push in the running game and in pass protection but has become a strength in recent years. In the past, most of the team’s rushing production came from Allen’s legs and few came from their backs – the Bills’ rushing attempts per game in 2022, 18.2, was last in the NFL but that number has jumped to the highest in the NFL since Brady was promoted. In 2023 Allen was taken down just 24 times overall in 17 regular season outings, the best mark in pro football, and the team again led the league with just 14 sacks allowed last year (tied for the sixth-least since 2000).
Buffalo also carried over their trend of using an extra offensive lineman to help in the running game. Now that Edwards has moved into the starting lineup, the sixth guy is currently Alec Anderson and the Bills had the highest rate of offensive snaps with six linemen on the field in ’24 – with most of them being called runs, and were near the top of the NFL in yards per carry and yards per play with six linemen on the field (rookie tight end Jackson Hawes, an excellent blocker and the replacement for Quintin Morris, is being used more in this regard with “13” personnel looks which diversifies what they can throw at opponents).
Another area the Bills needed to clean up was protecting the ball. They used to be one the league’s sloppiest teams – Allen had 14 interceptions and 13 fumbles in 2022 and he led the NFL with 18 interceptions in ’23. Last year Allen cut down on his interception total significantly with just six – a sign of progress in this regard (Allen became the third signal caller in NFL history to start a season with 10 touchdowns and no picks through his team’s first seven games).
In fact, the Bills tied the league record for fewest turnovers in a season with just eight (with the 2019 Saints). They also became the first team ever with less than 15 sacks allowed and fewer than 15 turnovers in the same season.
Buffalo ended the 2024 regular season second in points scored (the highest scoring team in franchise history) and red zone efficiency, 10th in total yards and ninth in rushing and passing and became the first team to ever have 30 passing and 30 rushing touchdowns in one season. They, along with the Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders, were also the top four teams in the NFL on fourth down conversion rate – so far they’re first in the NFL in rushing, total yards and time of possession, third in points scored but just 14th in passing.
Ex-49er Mitch Wishnowsky is the team’s third punter this year and kicker Tyler Bass has missed time due to a groin injury – with 41-year-old former All-Pro Matt Prater replacing him. Prater, who holds the NFL record for most 50-plus yards field goals in a career, also owned the league mark for longest career field goal after he connected on a 64-yarder in 2013.
12 STATS TO MUSE OVER
· Buffalo faced eight-man boxes 32 percent of the time in 2024, the most in the NFL according to Cover 1’s Erik Turner. It’s a stark contrast to the prior four years in which they went against them 16 percent of the time in 2020 (32nd), 18.6 in ’21 (27th), 20.4 in ’22 (20th) and 19.9 in ’23 (19th).
· Allen had 40 combined scores for the fifth straight year in 2024 – no other quarterback has done it more than three times (Drew Brees from 2011-13) – allowing him to be named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player by the Associated Press, an honor previously bestowed upon just two other Bills (Thurman Thomas in 1991 and O.J. Simpson in ‘73).
· Buffalo’s quarterback became the first signal caller ever to rush for six scores or more in each of his first eight years in the NFL. The only other players to do so are Hall of Fame running backs Jim Brown, Marshall Faulk and LaDanian Tomlinson.
· Allen has also surpassed Cam Newton for the most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback of all-time. He also set the franchise record for highest completion percentage in a game with 88.5 against Kansas City and can surpass Joe Cribbs for fourth in franchise history in rushing with 24 yards on Sunday.
· Buffalo has forced a turnover in 17 straight home games – their longest streak since a 31-game outing from 1988-92. They also became the fifth team in the last 30 years to not punt on their first drive of the game in each of their first eight games of a season.
· Curiously, the Bills have just a 4-4 mark against teams with a winning record since last year.
· Buffalo has a 36-17 mark in games against divisional opponents, including playoffs, since 2017 (and 26-7 since 2020).
· Including playoffs Allen is 14-2 all-time against Miami and since 2017 the Bills are 16-2 against Miami. The Dolphins haven’t won a game in Buffalo since Christmas Eve 2016 and last won versus the Bills at home in 2022.
· Since the beginning of the McDermott-Beane era in 2017, Buffalo has averaged 31.5 points-per-game against the Dolphins. It’s the second-highest points-per-game average any team has had against any division opponent in that span.
· The Chiefs hadn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in 27 straight games before Cook accomplished the feat last week (they’re also 0-4 in one-score games this year, a reversal from going 12-0 a year ago). The Bills also had 14 hits on Mahomes, the most they’ve ever had in a game against him and the second-most he’s ever been hit in a regular season game in his career.
· McDermott can reach 100 career wins (including playoffs) with his next and can become the sixth ever to do it in his first nine seasons – joining George Seifert, Paul Brown, John Madden, Joe Gibbs and Mike McCarthy.
· Buffalo has the second-highest pass rush win rate with four or less players in the NFL with a mark of 37.4 percent and have the third-highest sack rate (9.4), according to NGS. They’re also the only team in the NFL running the ball on more than half of their offensive snaps.
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