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Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens will be the home of the 2024 NFL season’s second edition of Thursday Night Football. In it, two familiar foes, division rivals in fact, will clash – the Miami Dolphins (1-0) and the Buffalo Bills (1-0). Kickoff is scheduled for the standard primetime 8:15 p.m. time slot.
Now or Never
It’s as simple as that for the Miami Dolphins. They’ve made their intentions for this season clear – look no further than their offseason activity. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa received a four-year, $212.4 million extension. Receiver Jaylen Waddle got a three-year deal worth $84.75 million. The Saturday before the Dolphins’ first game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the team announced a three-year, $72.3 million extension for cornerback Jalen Ramsey. All of these dollar figures are near or, in Ramsey’s case, at the top of the market. Point being, Miami has much invested into this roster, which means the time to put it all together is now.
Of course, the first step toward success in the NFL is winning your division, which means beating your division opponents. For the Miami Dolphins, with Tagovailoa at quarterback, beating the Buffalo Bills has been nearly impossible. In fact, the signal-caller is 1-6 in his career against the AFC East’s four-in-a-row champion.
One of the more interesting wrinkles to this matchup, on the Miami side, comes from something that happened prior to the aforementioned week one matchup against Jacksonville. On his way to the stadium on Sunday, star receiver Tyreek Hill was pulled over by police for speeding. The situation escalated to Hill being handcuffed face down on the pavement. Seeing their teammate in trouble, several Dolphins players stopped to offer their support. One, Calais Campbell, ended up in handcuffs as well, leaving everyone wondering what in the world happened.
The Miami-Dade Police Department released bodycam footage from the encounter, which sparked plenty of reaction online. Tagovailoa addressed how he felt seeing the footage, and the emotions involved.
Hill, of course, is one of Miami’s best and most explosive players, able to change a game in the blink of an eye. The situation didn’t seem to affect him last Sunday, as he went for 130 yards and a touchdown in the win. If anything, it seems like the team was brought even closer together. Either way, we’ll see how those emotions come into play Thursday night.
Reset… or not?
The Buffalo Bills had a different offseason than the Dolphins. Instead of extending players and going all in on the present, they let go of some key contributors from their four-year-run as division champs. Most notably, receiver Stefon Diggs was shipped off to Houston (where he had two touchdowns in his debut). What Buffalo has going for them, though, is one of the NFL’s great joker cards – quarterback Josh Allen.
Against the Arizona Cardinals in week one, Allen put the team on his back, accounting for all four of his team’s touchdowns in the 34-28 win. Another big statistical performance could be in his future, as Miami might be his favorite opponent. His 3,363 passing yards, 33 passing touchdowns and 683 rushing yards against the Dolphins are his most against any team.
The quarterback had a scare in the fourth quarter of the game against Arizona, where he landed hard on his left hand, which required heavy taping. He’s worn a glove on the hand in practice. Allen says this is no cause for concern, though.
If Allen has another big day against the Dolphins in a win, Buffalo could be letting the league know that they’re not quite in the rebuild mode many thought.
Future Implications
There are no easy wins in the NFL, and especially not against teams in your division. The winner on Thursday night will move to 2-0 with a division win on their record, making their path (though early in the season) to the playoffs that much easier. For the Bills – it’d be business as usual. For Miami – a sign that maybe it is their time.
