One of Dolphins’ biggest trouble spots may catch a break in Week 3 after Patriots exposed it on Sunday
Miami’s guard had their hands full against New England but the task against Buffalo appears to be trending towards being a little less intense.
The Miami Dolphins are going to have their hands full on Thursday night against the Buffalo Bills. The Dolphins have shown little consistency in their ability to generate stops on defense and are playing a quarterback in Josh Allen who has routinely put up the equivalent of career-best numbers for other quarterbacks when playing Miami. But it’s the threats on the other side of the ball that loom largest for Miami in this game amid the Dolphins’ own issues.
Miami rolled out backups at both spots on the right side of the center against the Patriots in Week 2 and promptly saw Harold Landry, Milton Williams, and Christian Barmore terrorize quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
But the Bills’ latest injury developments seem to suggest Miami could be spared of facing a defender that could be equally problematic in Week3.
DT Ed Oliver continues to not practice for the Buffalo Bills ahead of Week 3 contest
Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver is currently down with an ankle injury — and he did not practice again on Tuesday with the team. It’s a development that could spare Tagovailoa from a great deal of hardship amid the other worries that the Bills defense invokes. Current right guard Kion Smith struggled with the speed, power, and compact frame of Milton Williams on Sunday. So did rookie left guard Jonah Savaiinaea.
No Oliver leaves the Bills without their most disruptive interior player and could potentially change Miami’s math amid their effort to block things up for Tagovailoa and, hopefully, get some work going in the ground game. Miami currently ranks last in the NFL with 27 rush attempts through two games. When they’ve had their best offensive success against Buffalo in the past, those games featured heavy doses of running the football. Oliver’s absence can only help the Dolphins in that regard as well — although getting all the pieces to fall into place has been nearly impossible for Miami in recent years to do enough to win the game.
They’ll get their next chance on Thursday with a lot more than just a September divisional game on the line.
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