Dolphins-Bills Wild-Card Playoff Five Biggest Storylines
The Miami Dolphins will look to pull off a major upset when they face the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card playoffs at Highmark Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Ahead of the matchup, we offer our weekly ranking and analysis of the five biggest storylines:
1. Can the Dolphins Keep It Close?
Yes, it’s a weird question to ask heading into a playoff game, but these aren’t normal circumstances because the Dolphins will be starting a rookie third-round pick at quarterback and they’re 13.5-point underdogs. It’s the biggest point spread for an NFL playoff game, according to sportsoddshistory.com, since 2016 when New England was favored by 16 against Houston. There’s also the recent Dolphins history, which features lopsided playoff history: They’re 3-7 in their last 10 playoff games and the losses have come by scores of 17-3, 38-3, 62-7, 27-0, 20-3, 27-9 and 30-12. Yikes! So, yes, we have to ask: Can the Dolphins keep it close?
2. Skylar in the Spotlight
Hey, Brock Purdy helped his team win a playoff game and he’s a rookie seventh-round pick, so why can’t Skylar Thompson do it too? OK, things are a bit different because Thompson hasn’t been starting for two months and, well, because the 49ers are better than the Dolphins. But this is a tremendous opportunity for Thompson, who will be asked to do a lot more in this game than he was in the season finale against the offensively challenged New York Jets.
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3. Finding Answers for Allen
It’s no great revelation that the biggest key if the Dolphins are going to pull off this upset is to find a solution for Josh Allen, who was the biggest difference in Buffalo’s 32-29 victory against Miami on Dec. 18. And even when the Dolphins defeated Buffalo in Miami in September, he still put up big numbers. Beyond limiting his passing, the Dolphins also have to make sure Allen doesn’t get loose for a long run, like he did on a game-turning 44-yard scamper in December. Yes, it’s a tall task, but then again so is defeating the Bills.
4. Waddle All the Way
The Dolphins likely are going to need a big play or two to win this game, and Jaylen Waddle just might be the guy to deliver it for them. He did in each of the two Dolphins-Bills game this season, with the key 44-yard reception in the September game to set up the game-winning touchdown and with the 67-yard touchdown in the December game. Making it 3-for-3 would be great for Waddle — and obviously for the Dolphins.
5. Time for Takeaways
Somebody else that happened in each of the two games against Buffalo in the regular season was the defense forcing a Josh Allen fumble with a sack. In the game in Miami, it was Jevon Holland nailing him on a blitz and then it was Jaelan Phillips doing the honors in the game at Buffalo. At the risk of being redundant, the Dolphins will need every big play they can get in this game and a fumble clearly would qualify.
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