😤 4. Creating pressure
Both the Bills and Dolphins found success generating pressure against their opponents on Sunday.
AFC Defensive Player of the Week Greg Rousseau had 3.0 sacks on his own and the defense as a whole had 4.0. For the Dolphins, multiple players had 1.0 sacks, leading up to 3.0 total for their defense.
Tagovailoa and the Dolphins like to get rid of the ball quickly and the defense knows that they will not have much time to generate pressure.
“Whenever it goes over 2.4 seconds, 2.5 seconds,” edge rusher Von Miller said. “We got to be there knowing that we won’t get a lot of opportunities to rush so and obviously you want to, obviously want to push the pocket, get in his face… He is going to get the ball off fast. It’s just whenever opportunity presents itself for us to rush and get back there, we got to make it work.”
The Dolphins also have a new defensive coordinator in Anthony Weaver, who spent time in Buffalo as the defensive line coach in 2013.
NFL Network National NFL reporter Cameron Wolfe spoke on One Bills Live about what to expect from Miami’s defense.
“I think mix it up is probably the right word,” Wolfe said. “I think that’s the biggest thing that Anthony Weaver’s bringing … We already saw in week one against Jacksonville, Anthony Weaver is willing to blitz. Anthony Weaver’s willing to move Jalen Ramsey around. And I believe there’s going to be different looks… I do think that this will be a fun challenge. A little bit of a different mindset.”
The Bills offensive line will also do their best to keep Josh Allen upright. The Bills offensive line allowed the least number of sacks in the NFL in the 2023 season, and his offensive line will try to continue that trend against a Dolphins defense that has gotten through to him in the past (5 sacks in 2023).
Allen talked about right tackle Spencer Brown, who signed an extension on Friday, and how excited he was to have him and the entire offensive line continuing to block for him.
“Very happy for him and more importantly, happy for myself, knowing what he brings to this offense and the mentality that he has and the story that he has,” Allen said. “I think it’s pretty special, battling a few things the last few years and how hard he continuously works at trying to perfect his craft. And on top of that, the love and the fight that he has for his teammates is pretty special.”