Miami kept its slim playoff hopes alive last week by shutting down Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets.
The Dolphins, knowing that they can’t afford another loss if they want to earn a postseason berth, host the Buffalo Bills on Sunday
Miami (7-6) trails both the Jets and the Ravens by two games in the wild-card standings with just three games to play. The Dolphins will have to catch one of them to reach the playoffs.
Miami has won four of the last five meetings against the Bills, including a 15-10 decision at Buffalo earlier in the season. The Dolphins, with their fifth-ranked defense, dominated the time of possession in the game and held Buffalo to 166 total yards in the game.
Defensive end Cameron Wake leads the swarming Miami passing defense. Wake is aiming for a sack in his fifth straight and leads the NFL with 14 sacks. He sealed last week’s game against the Jets with a sack on New York’s final drive.
Buffalo (3-10) knocked off Cleveland 13-6 last week. The Bills are a mess defensively, especially against the run where they rank last in the NFL, and watched Cleveland running back Peyton Hillis run the ball down their throat on the game’s very first drive.
But Buffalo stiffened and kept Hillis out of the end zone with a staunch goal-line stand and forced Cleveland to kick a field goal. The Bills then dominated field position the rest of the contest on the way to the win.
While Ryan Fitzpatrick may not be the savior at quarterback that many Buffalo fans seem to think, he is truly a tough competitor behind center. Fitzpatrick has thrown a touchdown pass in 14 straight games and even proved to be a threat with his feet by running for 49 yards last week.
Fitzpatrick has thrown for 2,526 yards on the season with 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Those numbers are certainly on par with Miami’s Chad Henne, who did little against the Jets last week. Henne has thrown for 2,676 yards on the season and hit Brandon Marshall on a short touchdown pass last week, but finished the game with just 55 yards passing.
Henne has thrown just 13 scoring passes against 15 interceptions on the season.
Marshall returned to the lineup last week after missing two games with a hamstring injury. Although he was shut down for the most part by Darrelle Revis and the stingy Jet defense, just his presence is a big boost for the Miami offense, ranked 31st in the league in scoring at 17.3 ppg.
Miami (7-6) is without wide receiver Brian Hartline (finger) and signed veteran wideout Kevin Curtis on Tuesday. Curtis underwent surgery for testicular cancer in September.
Miami also placed tackle Vernon Carey on injured reserve.
Buffalo is also battling a rash of injuries at wide receiver and placed Lee Evans on injured reserve after spraining his ankle against the Browns.
The Bills' receiving corps now consists of Steve Johnson, a seventh-round pick, and undrafted free agents David Nelson, Donald Jones and Naaman Roosevelt.