The Miami Dolphins, as a whole, are going to be vastly outgunned by the Buffalo Bills today. The good news? Buffalo can serve as a source of inspiration for Miami — considering it was just two years ago that Buffalo stripped down their own roster of WR Sammy Watkins and CB Ronald Darby in order to gain more draft capital in a rebuild of their own. Buffalo would go on to grab their franchise QB and begin to rebuild the team — and now Buffalo sits at 4-1 and is generally considered a strong contender to make the postseason in 2019.
The bad news? That moral victory won’t help the Dolphins today. And there are several mismatches across the field that loom large for the Dolphins in their efforts to acquire their first win. Defensively, here are three Dolphins facing big tests this week.
DE Taco Charlton
Charlton may not necessarily draw the toughest offensive line assignment of his life. The Bills have been working with rookie tackle Cody Ford on the right side and that experiment hasn’t been one that has produced great results to this point in the season. But that isn’t Charlton’s challenge — it is wrestling QB Josh Allen to the ground if and when he turns the corner. Allen is a big, strong quarterback who shrugs off contact consistently and can break contain of the pocket. That can’t happen if Miami’s defense is going to show well.
DB Nik Needham
Needham stepped into the Dolphin’s 53-man roster ahead of last week’s game and played pretty well. But the Bills’ wide receiver rooms is a lot more diverse (and quite frankly more talented) than the one in Washington. Gulp. Hopefully Needham can build on some positive play last week and avoid the ugly flashes we saw out of his game during the preseason.
LB Raekwon McMillan
The challenge awaiting McMillan? The Bills are an offense under offensive coordinator Brian Daboll who run a lot of misdirection, love to take vertical shots in the passing game and possess a ton of speed. Range has been the big question for McMillan to this point in his career — there’s no question he can bang heads in downhill run fits. But can he carry a crosser from John Brown or Robert Foster? Can he get depth versus a seam route in the slot if Miami is caught in zone coverage? This will be a good test.
