For two straight years, the Bills’ greatest competitor for the AFC East title resided in South Florida.
But when the Bills and Dolphins get together, it’s rarely gone the way of the fish.
The lone recent exception? A 21-19 Week 3 loss in 2022, when the sweltering heat on the visiting sideline at Hard Rock Stadium appeared to take an enormous toll on the Bills and memorable for then-offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey’s exasperated reaction caught on cameras in the play-calling booth.
Josh Allen is 10-2 against Miami and Sean McDermott is 13-2 (4-1, including the playoffs, against Mike McDaniel).
Still, it took the Bills until the final game of the regular season — a 21-14 win at Miami — to secure their fourth consecutive division title last year, with Miami finally squandering a division lead it held from Week 5 on in 2023.
Will the matchups between these two teams, starting Thursday night in Miami Gardens, again decide the division crown?
Three of the four AFC East teams started 1-0, but maybe not the three you’d think, with the Patriots winning in Cincinnati to start the Jerod Mayo era 1-0. The Jets, a slight division favorite in most betting markets to open the season, lost in San Francisco, with Robert Salah’s defense struggling against Kyle Shanahan’s offense, but at least Aaron Rodgers finished Week 1 healthy this time.
So with respect to the Pats, the winner of Thursday night’s game will have the first leg up on the East race but a long way to go.
What’s different about the old Bills-Fins rivalry this year? Start with some familiar faces switching sidelines. Safety Jordan Poyer joined Miami after the Bills cut him in March. So did cornerback and special teams star Siran Neal, another cap casualty.
The Dolphins’ offseason saw several defensive veterans leave, most notably defensive tackle Christian Wilkins (Raiders). But they signed quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to a big contract extension at the start of training camp, keeping the Alabama product on the books through 2028.
The 33-year-old Poyer’s presence in the Miami secondary is sure to be a strange sight for Allen, his longtime teammate.
“I got a lot of love for him, so it’s gonna be … it’s gonna be fun,” Allen told reporters this week. “First and foremost, I think, going against really good competitors and really good players, it brings out the best in people. But at the same time, there’s gonna be some friendly jabs, and, you know, hopefully I just don’t let him tackle me, or the other word, I won’t even say it. So it’s fun to go against guys that you have a lot of love and respect for, and I’ve got a lot of love and respect for him.
“He’s one of the best ever to put on a Bills uniform.”
After benefitting from Allen and the Bills’ offense for years, now he’s Poyer’s problem.
“Yesterday he went pretty crazy doing what he’s always been doing, running around, throwing the ball, hurdling over people,” Poyer told Miami reporters Monday. “Great player, man. I’ve seen him do some crazy things over the years, so I’m really excited for my first opportunity to finally play against him. It’ll be a fun night on Thursday night.”
Whenever players change locker rooms, especially between division rivals, questions arise on what the new team can learn about the old team. Tagovailoa thinks Poyer and Neal can help the Miami offense prepare for the Bills’ ‘D.’
“Yeah, they definitely can,” Tagovailoa said. “They know in the backend signals (for) what the Bills do and how they communicate things that they’ve done to stop us previous years. And then just kind of the philosophy of that defense with what they try to accomplish against our offense – uniquely different than a lot of the teams they would play against, so (I) can take a lot of the information that I’ve been given from those guys early in the week and apply it to Thursday.”
And you can be sure the Bills have tried to do the same on the other side of the ball with former Dolphins backup quarterback Mike White (cut at the end of camp) now on the Buffalo practice squad.
