Another week in the NFL is in the books and the Buffalo Bills have gotten themselves another win. The Bills victory in Week 7 vs the Miami Dolphins moved them to 5-1 and strengthened their playoff positioning. It also moved fans to the edge of their seats in an anxious panic at times. Buffalo came into the game fresh off a bye and playing a winless Dolphins team that has looked haphazard at best this year. Their lack of focus led to them being down at the half and needing a flukey special teams touchdown to seal the game in the fourth quarter. The world isn’t on fire, but there are some things to take away from this game.
Week 7 Takeaways From Buffalo Bills vs Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a bad football team. Rumors of tanking have surrounded them since the start of the season. They traded away their best defensive player and their head coach publicly names a starting quarterback, then changes his mind. They’re bad. The Bills however have a very real defense and a quarterback with upside playing good enough to win. Plus they were at home. Granted, division games can be tough. But this one shouldn’t have been. At least not as tough as it was. The Bills defense played poor in spurts, and the team as a whole was too relaxed in their execution. So, what can be taken away from the Bills underwhelming win vs the Dolphins?
Perspective
The Bills are 5-1. That’s fantastic. They’re also a team that was 6-10 last year and had the ninth overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft. Josh Allen has played well, but he’s still young and still a project. The great start to this season has caused a loss of perspective on what the Bills were coming into this season.
This season was about two things. Number one, making sure Josh Allen could be the guy. Number two, making progress as a team. The verdict may still be a bit out on number one, but number two has definitely happened. A solid free-agent haul coupled with a well-designed draft, and development of players already on the roster, has allowed the Bills to make significant progress as a team this year and exceed expectations. They’re 5-1 right now. Their only loss came to the New England Patriots in a game they almost won. They have the second-best record in the AFC. If before the season started you thought that all of that would be true you’re lying.
The Bills want to be a playoff team this year. They should be a playoff team this year. But they’re still young, and still in the process of growing. And though they have a championship defense, they’re not a championship team. What happened in Week 7 for the Bills vs the Dolphins wasn’t great. But it is what can happen with young teams as they grow. The Buffalo Bills are ahead in their developmental process. But being ahead in their developmental process doesn’t take away from the fact that they’re still developing.
You Can Never Take Your Foot Off The Gas
Bills linebacker Tremaine Edmunds came out pretty early in the week and spoke about the performance vs the Dolphins. He spoke about having to “bring it every week” and having to “come ready to work”. If you read between the lines you can surmise what happened in this game. Buffalo came into this game, and believed their own hype and didn’t respect Miami and it showed for the entire first half.
Miami came out with emotion and played hard and the Bills didn’t answer in kind right away. You can’t do that in the NFL. No matter how good you are or how poor your opponent may be. The good news is that the Bills still got the win and can learn from this and seemed to have learned from this.
Starting linebacker Matt Milano was missed by the Bills vs the Dolphins, but that’s still no excuse. Coming off of a bye week, with an extra week of preparation to play one of the worst teams in football eliminates all excuses. You have to bring it every week in the NFL. The Bills seemed to have gotten that message at halftime down 14-9 and used it to outscore Miami 22-7 in the second half on their way to the 31-21 win. Lesson learned. Hopefully.
What Buffalo Bills vs Miami Dolphins Means Going Forward
Sometimes, you need to touch the hot stove to know it’s hot, and that touching it will hurt. That teaches you to not touch the stove. The Buffalo Bills touched a hot stove vs the Miami Dolphins in Week 7. They didn’t get burned or scarred, but if they needed to know why they shouldn’t touch a hot stove they know now. And that’s not an end of the world thing. It’s a thing that happens to young teams, to teams as they grow. Their approach going forward and continued development will tell what this team is and what they can do. Both now and in the future.
