Buffalo has its second matchup against Miami coming up in Week 9 at Highmark Stadium. It'll be the Bills' last Sunday 1:00 PM game until Week 16. The game will air on CBS.
Here's five things to know ahead of Sunday.
đ1. Bills headline AFC East standings
The Bills are sitting at the top of the AFC East through eight weeks of play.
Buffalo's first with a 6-2 record and the Dolphins are next at 2-5. It's Buffalo's largest lead of the season so far.
The Bills' lead in their division is the largest in the NFL compared to any other division leader. The Chiefs and Texans are next best with a two-game lead in their divisions.
Sirius XM Radio NFL analyst Rich Gannon believes Buffalo is playing like one of the best in the league right now.
"They've won four games by 21 or more points, so they're rolling people right now," Gannon said on The Lombardi Line. "âŠJosh (Allen) is unique. There's not a lot of quarterbacks like him in the game. He's very physical. I think they play to a certain style that of football the Sean McDermott coaches and preaches, I think that is a good thing for the Buffalo Bills."
There are only six teams, including Buffalo, that have won six or more games so far this season (Texans, Chiefs, Commanders, Lions, Packers).
đŹ2. Tua returns
Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa returned to the lineup in Week 8 after missing four games with a head injury. The Dolphins lost by a point (28-27) to the Cardinals, but it was the offense's first time scoring more than 20 points this season.
Tagovailoa finished the game completing 28 of his 38 pass attempts (73.7%) for 234 yards and threw for one touchdown.
The QB originally went down with the head injury in the third quarter of their last game against Buffalo in Week 2.
"Number one, glad he's okay," Bills head coach Sean McDermott said. "That was scary to watch. Number two, obviously, now he's back and playing at a high level. So, they're a good team, a good offense."
Tagovailoa said it felt good to add a spark to the offense in his first game back.
"It feels good to be able to come back and play with my teammates, to hopefully help in whatever way I can to get a spark going for us offensively or get the mojo going for the entire team," Tagovailoa added. "It feels good but a tough loss today against a really good team, so that diminishes not just what I've done, but a lot of what other guys have done individually as well."
"He did a real good job on third down," Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said of his QB. "But collectively, I think the bigger thing was that we had a little bit more of our brand of football."
Miami has struggled without Tagovailoa. The Dolphins won just one game during the four weeks their QB was sidelined. They rank last in the NFL averaging just 13.86 points per game.
đđ3. Von Miller back in the lineup
Edge rusher Von Miller returns to the team after missing the last four games due to suspension.
"It'll be good to have Von back," Sean McDermott said. "He's been out four weeks and never sure what that brings in terms of staying refined, staying polished. But I'm sure he's been chomping at the bit to get backâŠit's never about one person, especially when you play up front. It's about the sum of the parts and it's about four guys rushing as one."
Miller was off to a hot start with three sacks in four games. He'll return to a group that ranks top 10 in quarterback hits with 49 (tied for eighth). Miller's counterpart, defensive end Greg Rousseau, has had a productive few weeks. Rousseau is tied for the seventh-most tackles for loss with eight and tied for the fourth-most quarterback hits with 14.
"We got to continue to work together not only to stop the run, which I was impressed with against Seattle because that was no easy challenge with those running backs," McDermott said. "But, also when we rush, we've got to rush together. And that's when you can really affect the quarterback, and the rush and coverage can work together."
Buffalo's defense will be tasked with stopping an offense that ranks as the ninth-best on the ground averaging 131.7 rushing yards per game.
âȘïž4. Turning the corner on third down
One area the Bills have wanted to clean up this season is third down. On offense and defense, they rank in the bottom half of the NFL, but last week, they turned it around.
Against the Seahawks, Buffalo's offense converted 53% of their third down opportunities (8/15). On defense, the Bills held Seattle to just one for seven (17%) on third down chances.
Sean McDermott said their success had to do with what happened on first and second downs.
"I think more than anything, it was yards to go," McDermott explained. "When you looked at our offense's yards to go on third downs, I think it was approximately around five yards to go. Defensively, I think it was beyond. I think it was upwards of 9, 10, 11 yards to go on third downs for their offense.
"So, that's certainly a big help. That's a first step when you're winning first and second down and then the execution on third down as well, on both sides of the ball."
Ahead of last week's game, offensive coordinator Joe Brady said the coaching staff challenged the offense to sustain drives and was happy with how the team answered.
"I think a lot of it was a good job with communication, all being on the same page and just doing the simple better," Brady said. "We were able to overcome some of the things that we weren't able to overcome with past games and it allowed us to sustain drives."
McDermott said executing on third downs goes back to the team's preparation during the week.
On defense, the Dolphins are the second-best on third down allowing conversions just 30.9% of the time. On offense, Miami is converting 38.5% of their third downs (18th). We'll see if Buffalo can build off their strong performance last week.
đ5. Where the Bills rank at the halfway point
Buffalo is just about at the halfway point of the season. They're eight weeks down with nine games to play. Let's take a look at where Buffalo ranks as we enter the second half of the season.
Offense
- Points per game: 28.5 (5th best)
- Total yards per game: 336.5 (13th)
- Rushing yards per game: 122.3 (12th)
- Passing yards per game: 214.3 (15th)
- Red zone efficiency: 67.6% (4th)
- Turnover differential: +11 (1st)
- QB Josh Allen: 17 total touchdowns (3rd), 107.6 passer rating (3rd), one interception (ties for lowest)
Defense
- Points allowed per game: 18.3 (6th best)
- Total yards allowed per game: 328.4 (16th)
- Rushing yards allowed per game: 120.3 (15th)
- Passing yards allowed per game: 208.1 (tied for 13th)
- Takeaways: 14 (6th)
- Opponent red zone efficiency: 42.9% (tied for 6th)
