The Dolphins head to Buffalo for their last game against the Bills at Highmark Stadium, a meeting slated for Thursday Night Football. The short week brings different dynamics as the team prepares to take on the Bills, who have been atop of the AFC East consistently in recent years.
For more on this matchup, we hear from Dolphins players and coaches.
Short Week Prep
Defensive Tackle Zach Sieler – "We've got to accelerate everything. You've got to pick up your game planning, you've got to pick up your tape watch, speed up your process to recover and regroup and kind of figure out how you want to attack them on the Thursday night quick game."
Wide Receiver Jaylen Waddle - "Just how important it is to take care of yourself, the recovery, the rest, things like that, how important meetings are. Going into it, you're going to be limited on the reps, so meetings and film is going to be key this week."
Fullback Alec Ingold - "I think it's a race to recover. It's sleep, it's recovery, it's moving the body. It's getting back on the practice field immediately. So yeah, I think it's taking care of the body, but also diving into the game plan right away. There's no rest for the wicked right now and no time to feel sorry for yourself."
What Makes the Bills the Bills
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa - "I think defensively, the scheme that they're in – very disciplined. That's one of the teams that just want to get to a spot, we'll just keep everything, hey, numbers to numbers and inside. Like that's where we're going to force them not to throw. If they want to do the check downs, like, force them to throw those check downs because they can't sustain that. Force them to throw outside the numbers because they can't sustain that. And I think the discipline of that defense is what makes them really good."
Head Coach Mike McDaniel - "I think it starts with the team plays as a team, their franchise quarterback continues to develop and get better and they fight through adversity. The team itself – hats off to Coach McDermott – because he hasn't changed in the process and they've had some tough times that have made their core even stronger. So I think the consistency from the head coach and the quarterback is absolutely on the forefront, but then the connectivity of how they play the game and their effort, it's always sound ball that's ultracompetitive so you do that over time and you find a formula for success and I think they haven't changed who they are in that way."
Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver (on Buffalo Quarterback Josh Allen) – "He's tougher to account for because it's not the design quarterback runs – and those are a problem, certainly in the red zone – it's the play after the play and defending that with him. You try to do a balance of rushing four, rushing five, try eliminating some of the space, but you saw the Jets do that. They brought five and he still ran for like 40-something yards. He's a heck of a football player. It's going to take all 11 every play. You know he's going to make his handful plays and hopefully we can find some of our own too."
For more on Dolphins-Bills, download the Drive Time Podcast with Travis Wingfield, available wherever you get your podcasts.
