Bills Phins

-Coast

The biggest game of the season thus far is Sunday. Yeah, nice win last week but divisional play starts now no game is guaranteed. Miami is a tough football team...they beat the Chargers and destroyed the Patriots in Foxboro. It seemed like they were turning things around until last week when they got hammered at home by Baltimore. The fact is, Miami is a desperate football team and they know that this game is an absolute must win if they want to salvage their season.

The Dolphins have found success this season with their new "wildcat" offense. Too bad I think defenses have figured it out. Miami loves putting Ronnie Brown at QB, with Ricky Williams in the backfield and Pennington spread out wide. The only problem is...no one is scared of Ricky Williams any more...and sorry, but Pennington isn't going to beat anyone deep. Basically, as far as I can tell with my limited football knowledge is key on Ronnie Brown getting the snap and this offense is very defensible.

Against New England, Miami ran for 216 yards, 167 vs. the Chargers, 96 vs. Houston, and 71 vs. the Ravens. Notice a trend here? Looks to me like teams have gotten this little wrinkle Tony Soprano or Sporano threw into the offense.

On the injury front, the Bills will be without starting right guard Brad Butler and $50 million dollar pro bowl defensive end Aaron Schobel. This means Denney will get a lot of action at right end (ugh) and Jason Whittle or Duke Preston will see playing time at right guard. Terrance McGee is questionable...and quite frankly...if he isn't healthy he might as well sit this one out...I am not saying that this game is a push over at all (in fact deep down I think Miami is going to win) but...who are we to be afraid of at wide receiver for the Dolphins? Greg Camarillo is Miami's leading receiver. David Martin, Patrick Cobbs, Anthony Fasano are the next three on the list...all ahead of perhaps the worst draft pick in recent memore, Ted Ginn Jr. Who are these guys? I have enough faith in our secondary to defend these nobodies even without McGee in there...and that is with McKelvin seeing significant playing time again and let's face it...he is bad.

Offensively, the Bills will face a defense that features linebacker Joey Porter, who is 2nd in the league with 8.5 sacks. This Bills leading sackers are Mitchell and Stroud...with 2 each. the 50 million dollar man has one sack in 5 games played. Seriously? 50 million dollars and the dude has one sack. Can we trade Aaron Schobel while people still think he is worth something? Back to the offense...the Bills have at times this year looked very good, almost unstoppable with Trent Edwards, MVP candidate, best QB in the league, at the helm. He is currently ranked 4th in the NFL in passer rating...He completes 69.7 percent of his passes...2nd in the NFL...7.95 yards per attempt...6th in the league...He has only thrown 2 Ints...(1.3% interception percentage...3rd in the league), I could go on and find some more obscure stats as to why he is so good...but how about this one? He has started in 15 games in his career, 2 of which he was injured in, therefore he has played in only 13 games and oh yeah, he's only 23...and out of those 13 games he has completed...the Bills are 9-4. If Trent keeps doing what he's been doing...not turning it over, not taking silly sacks, and keep converting 3rd downs, the Bills should be in good shape.

Marshawn Lynch is so beyond due to have a big game. He keeps getting 70 or 80 yards every week...or less...he has 389 yards this season in 6 games which is less than 70 per game. He does have 5 touchdowns...but if I do some quick math here, he is only on pace for about 1,030 yards and 13 touchdowns. I like the 13 touchdowns, but the yards need to improve. That means our offensive line needs to develop an attitute in the running game because the run blocking is pitiful. This Sunday can provide the perfect opportunity for Lynch to finally get over the century mark for the 2nd time in his career.

This game scares me...it really does...and like I said, deep down I don't think the Bills will win. However, I am still going to pick them to win easily. Miami is a bad football team. They have no talent...their QB is Chad Pennington. But, they are desperate and I still have no confidence in Dick Jauron on the road. Although, Trent Edwards is our QB, not JP Losman.

Bills 31 Dolphins 9