Vegas Butcher (NFL)
Buffalo Bills +4
A big divisional game between two 5-4 teams. Both Miami and Buffalo have top-4 defenses, both are exceptional at rushing the passer, and both can stop the run. Miami ranks 1st in passD while Buffalo isn’t far behind, ranking 3rd. One advantage that the Bills have is on special teams, where they rank 4th while Miami is 27th. On a short week, without much time to prepare, special teams could be an even bigger difference than normally. But of course another key difference in this game is each team’s offense. Let’s break it down.
Miami ranks 13th in OffEff (Offensive Efficiency) while Buffalo is 27th. It’s important to remember that Buffalo played their first 4 games with an ineffective EJ Manuel, and once Kyle Orton became the starter their offense became more efficient. Manuel ranks 32nd in QB-efficiency with a -21.3% DVOA (defense adjusted advanced efficiency metric), 59% completion %, and 1.7 TD/INT rate in his 4 starts. Orton ranks 22nd in QB-efficiency with a -2.6% DVOA (around league average), 66% completion %, and 3.3 TD/INT rate in his 5 starts. He’s actually on the same level as Tannehill who has a -1.3% DVOA on the season, ranking 20th in that metric. Tannehil has a 65% completion % and 2.1 TD/INT rate on the year. In addition, Orton’s 7.3 PY/A is superior to Tannehill’s 6.6 PY/A mark. Tannehill hurt his shoulder and his ankle against the Lions last week, and though he’ll play today, he might not be at 100%. The more serious issue for this Dolphins offense is the fact that Branden Albert, their stud left tackle, got hurt in week 10 and will miss the remainder of the season. Remember how poor this Dolphins O-line was last year, and how much it improved this season with the acquisition of Albert? Well, he’s out now and with a very short week, it’s hard to imagine that Miami was able to develop much continuity on their O-line after reshuffling players around. Facing an absolutely dominating defensive front-line of the Bills (#2 in ASR% @ 8.8%), Miami’s O-line is absolutely one of the most critical factors in tonight’s game. To make matters worse, Lamar Miller still seems to be below 100%, as he was only able to register 5 touches against the Lions. Miller is backed up by an undrafted rookie free agent Damien Wiliams and a useless plodder with fumbling issues in Daniel Thomas. I think it’s safe to say that Miami’s offense should perform worse today than their 13th season-long rank indicates. At the same time, I like the fact that Fred Jackson is out for the Bills. His absence will give Bryce Brown more opportunities and touches, and he looked absolutely explosive last week. Fumbling has always been an issue for Brown, but his athletic and playmaking ability are off the charts. In what I expect to be a very close game, Brown’s explosiveness could very well be the difference in this one.
Finally, I want to point out that when these teams met in week 2 of the season, Buffalo dismantled the Dolphins 29 - 10. They held the Dolphins to a 3.9 YPP average, allowed Tannehill to only average 4.9 passing yards per attempt, while at the same time were able to consistently move the chains. The Bills had short FG’s of 27, 27, 31, 32, and 38 yards in the game, and if 1 or 2 of those were converted into TD’s, the score would have been even greater. Important to note, that the QB for Buffalo in that game was EJ Manuel, and the Bills will have a better one playing for them tonight.
Bottom line is that we have two teams that know each other very well, both have stout defenses, and scoring points could be difficult. In a low-scoring game, the underdog is often worth a look. But when you get a favorite that is dealing with some major injuries to key players on a short week, then the value on that underdog gets even higher. Buffalo is 4-1 ATS against Miami in the last 5 games and the Bills are 3-1 ATS on the road this year. This one feels like a 3-point game though I believe Bills have a better chance of winning. I’ll grab the 4-points with confidence.