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GAME TIME: 4:05 PM EST on Sunday, Oct 4th. The game will be
broadcast regionally on CBS TV.
PLACE: Land Shark Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL WEATHER FORECAST: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 87. Calm wind becoming east between 7 and 10 mph. FIELD CONDITIONS: The good news is that the Marlins are done playing at home for the season, so the baseball diamond should be gone. The bad news is that the Hurricanes are playing at Land Shark on Saturday, so the field may be a little torn up. STANDINGS & STATS: The Dolphins are 0-3 and at the bottom of the AFC East, while the Bills are 1-2 and third in the AFC East.
Dolphins Pts/Game Rank Bills Pts/Game Rank
Scored 14.3 26 Scored 21.3 12
Allowed 23.0 22 Allowed 24.0 24
Dolphins Yds/Game Rank Bills Yds/Game Rank
Total Offense: 317 19 Total Defense: 391 28
Rushing: 161 3 vs Rush: 117 18
Passing: 156 30 vs Pass: 273 28
Bills Dolphins
Total Offense: 319 17 Total Defense: 331 17
Rushing: 132 9 vs Rush: 66 3
Passing: 187 24 vs Pass: 265 26
Sacks Made (Avg/G) Allowed (Avg/G)
Dolphins 5 1.7 7 2.3
Bills 5 1.7 10 3.3
Turnover differential:
Dolphins -6
Bills -1
Individual Skill Position Stats:
Dolphins
QB: QB Henne: 10-19-92-0-1-44.2
Rush: RB Brown: 52-254-4.9-2
Rush: RB Williams: 23-163-4.8-1
Rec: WR Bess: 17-140-8.2-0
Rec: WR Ginn,Jr: 13-134-10.3-0
Rec: RB Williams: 7-51-7.3-1
Bills
QB: QB Edwards: 56-91-598-4-2-86.2
Rush: RB Jackson: 61-291-4.8-0
Rush: QB Edwards: 7-62-8.9-0
Rec: RB Jackson: 15-134-8.9-1
Rec: WR Reed: 10-106-10.6-0
Rec: TE Schouman: 9-103-11.4-0
Legend
QBs: completions-attempts-yards-touchdowns-ints-rating
RBs: rushes-yards-average-touchdowns
WRs: receptions-yards-average-touchdowns
HISTORY: The Bills have won four of the past six meetings, but trail the overall series, 52-37-1, including the playoffs. Last year, Miami beat Buffalo both times, 25-16 in Miami and 16-3 in Toronto. INJURIES: The following list is based on early reports and won't be final until Sunday.
Dolphins:
DOUBTFUL: LB Joey Porter (Hamstring)
Bills:
OUT: T Demetrius Bell (groin)
DT John McCargo (calf)
CB Leodis McKelvin (fibula)
LB Paul Posluszny (forearm)
S Bryan Scott (ankle)
S Donte Whitner (thumb)
PROBABLE: TE Shawn Nelson (shoulder)
DT Kyle Williams (groin)
DOLPHINS STARTERS:
Offense: Defense:
QB - 7 Chad Henne LE - 70 Kendall Langford
RB - 23 Ronnie Brown NT - 95 Jason Ferguson
FB - 39 Lousaka Polite RE - 94 Randy Starks
WR - 19 Ted Ginn,Jr SLB - 99 Jason Taylor
WR - 83 Greg Camarillo ILB - 51 Akin Ayodele
TE - 80 Anthony Fasano ILB - 52 Channing Crowder
LT - 77 Jake Long WLB - 56 Charlie Anderson
LG - 65 Justin Smiley LCB - 25 Will Allen
C - 64 Jake Grove RCB - 24 Sean Smith
RG - 66 Donald Thomas SS - 37 Yeremiah Bell
RT - 72 Vernon Carey FS - 28 Gibril Wilson
K - 5 Dan Carpenter P - 2 Brandon Fields
PR - 15 Davone Bess KR - 19 Ted Ginn,Jr
NOTES: Current reports say that Joey Porter is not practicing and may
not play. Hamstring injuries frequently take a long time to heal and
players often re-injure them.
Bills STARTERS: Offense: Defense: QB - 5 Trent Edwards LDE - 90 Chris Kelsay RB - 22 Fred Jackson LDT - 99 Marcus Stroud FB - 38 Corey McIntyre RDT - 95 Kyle Williams WR - 81 Terrell Owens RDE - 94 Aaron Schobel WR - 83 Lee Evans SLB - 54 Keith Ellison TE - 86 Derek Fine MLB - 51 Marcus Buggs LT - 77 Demetrius Bell WLB - 59 Keith Mitchell LG - 67 Andy Levitre RCB - 24 Terrence McGee C - 63 Geoff Hangartner LCB - 29 Drayton Florence RG - 70 Eric Wood SS - 43 Brian Scott RT - 79 Jonathan Scott FS - 31 Jairus Byrd K - 9 Rian Lindell P - 8 Brian Moorman KR - 24 Terrence McGee PR - 11 Roscoe ParrishNOTES: The Bills have a lot of injuries this week, so it's difficult to know who will play. Both their starting safeties are banged up, along with their starting left tackle and one of their defensive linemen.
Chad Henne is starting his first game as a pro. How he will handles the pressure and how many mistakes he makes will go a long way toward determining whether or not the Dolphins win. Ted Ginn caught 11 passes two weeks ago and none last week and I think it's fair to say that he's on the hot-seat right now. And Brian Hartline has been showing flashes, but has also been making his share of rookie mistakes. On defense, Sean Smith and Will Allen get to try another test when facing Terrell Owens and Lee Evans. The defensive line will and Jason Taylor should have more opportunities to get to the quarterback as the Bills' pass defense has been only average. If Joey Porter doesn't play, Charlie Anderson will be standing in for him. The Bills, despite having Lee Evans and Terrell Owens on the roster, have been relying on the running and receiving of Fred Jackson to carry their offense. They will be getting Marshawn Lynch back this Sunday and since he was not injured, he should be ready to go. The defense is anchored on the defensive line by Marcus Stroud and Aaron Schobel. Schobel has had good games against the Dolphins and has 2 sacks so far this year. LB Keith Ellison leads the team in tackles, but their next two leading tacklers, safeties Bryan Scott and Donte Whitner, are injured and may not play this Sunday. That will put a lot of pressure on their backups, George Wilson and Jairus Byrd. Probably the single biggest key to victory for Miami this Sunday will be the play of QB Chad Henne. If Henne can avoid mistakes and do what the coaches ask of him on Sunday - whether that is throwing short and managing the game or going long down the field and making some big plays - the Dolphins stand a good chance of beating the Bills. It has been mentioned by several pundits that Henning will pare down the offense, limiting the playbook so as not to give Henne too much to think about. My problem with this idea is that Henne has been working on learning this offense for over a year and if he doesn't understand it now, he will never understand it. So what I hope will happen is that Henning will actually open up the playbook a little more, throwing down the field to Ted Ginn and Brian Hartline on more deep routes - deep posts, slants and sideline routes. Henne's arm strength is one of the areas where he has an advantage over Pennington and it seems foolish to me not to make use of that talent. Last week, the only touchdown that the Dolphins got was on a drive where they threw the ball down the field instead of just taking the underneath stuff. Also, it is unlikely that the Bills will be prepared for that kind of a gameplan and it will take advantage of the Bills' weakened secondary. With their starting safeties both injured and possibly not playing, the opportunity for big plays should be there. And last year, Ted Ginn, Jr had his biggest game against the Bills in Miami, catching 7 passe for 175 yards. This does not mean that the Dolphins shouldn't run, both from the base formation and from the Wildcat, but the threat of the deep pass can only make the running plays more effective. And with the Bills ranked 28th in the NFL against the pass, the Dolphins may never get a better opportunity to throw down the field. Unfortunately, what I think is more likely is that the Dolphins will limit the playbook and ask Chad Henne to play like Pennington, throwing short passes and managing the running game. The Dolphins should be successful running the ball against the Bills, but if that is their entire gameplan, they will be playing into the Bills' strength on defense. The Dolphins may also trot out some new wrinkles to the Wildcat this week and Pat White may get more playing time if they do. I don't think we'll see Tyler Thigpen, but if the Dolphins want to try throwing from the Wildcat, then I believe that Pat White will get his chance. When the Bills have the ball, they will undoubtedly try to do what every other team has done to Miami this year, so you can expect lots of intermediate and deep throws to their receivers. Terrell Owens has been relatively quiet this year, but he will almost certainly have a bigger role this game. Owens, Lee Evans and Josh Reed will see plenty of action this Sunday. The Dolphins' defense will need to be much better than they have been at deep coverage if they want to keep the Bills' offense in check. Fortunately for Miami, the Bills do not have Phillip Rivers or Peyton Manning as their quarterback and while Trent Edwards has been playing well, he is not nearly the threat that Miami has faced over the last 3 weeks. Despite the dangerous receivers that they have, most of the Bills' offense has come from Fred Jackson this year. And while I don't think that the Dolphins will have serious trouble stopping the Bills' running game, they will have to be careful about Fred Jackson catching passes out of the backfield. Jackson is the Bills' leading receiver as well as their leading rusher, so the Dolphins will need to keep an eye on him. The outcome of this game will probably rest on two factors - the play of Chad Henne and the ability of the defense to cover the Bills' receivers down the field. If Henne can avoid any big mistakes and is allowed to use his arm strength and if the Dolphins' defense can finally figure out a way to stop the big play, I think the Dolphins will get their first win of the year. To watch the game on TV, you may go to one of the sports bars listed on my "Places To Watch" web page. To listen to the game live over the Internet, you must now pay the NFL for the privelege. They are charging .99 (US) per month or .99 for the season for something you used to get for free. If you want to sign up for that, go to the following link NFL Field Pass. Also, here is a list of some websites that have live scores and updates. Both the Official Website and NFL.com have almost live applications that run in your browser and give you current stats and play-by-play information.
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