Has Miami really closed the gap?

[eball]

11 hours ago, SoTier said:

 

I saw a take on the Bills-Bengals playoff game last month or so by somebody on TV (maybe on GMFB) that suggested that the Bills hit a mental/emotional wall in the Bengals playoff game because they had been through so much as a team toward the end of the season that they were literally "running on empty" by the time they got to the playoffs.   They certainly played "flat" in the Bengals game, and that mental and emotional fatigue might have been the reason.

 

Several of us around here — I know I was one — brought up this point immediately after that game.  The Bills were a team that was beaten down physically and emotionally.  I don’t recall a season in which a team faced so many challenges throughout the course of the year.  My hope is that working through all of that has now made them even stronger and more resilient, and they have a huge chip on their shoulders.

 

 

[Lane Meyer K12]

Yes, they are a formidable opponent and are capable of beating the Bills. Last season all three games were highly competitive, it would be foolish to not observe that Miami has gotten considerably better as of late.

That being said, squish the fish! 

[Gregg]

6 minutes ago, Lane Meyer K12 said:

Yes, they are a formidable opponent and are capable of beating the Bills. Last season all three games were highly competitive, it would be foolish to not observe that Miami has gotten considerably better as of late.

That being said, squish the fish! 

 

Two out of those three games shouldn't have been competitive. The Bills were going up and down the field in the 1st game but just couldn't finish drives. In the playoff game it was the turnovers and sloppy play that allowed Miami to hang around. To the Dolphins credit they did. That playoff game was looking like a blowout for the first 20 minutes of the game. I am more concerned about the Jets. Rodgers may not be in his prime, but he is still a very good QB. The Jets defense is also really good.

[Doc]

25 minutes ago, Lane Meyer K12 said:

Yes, they are a formidable opponent and are capable of beating the Bills. Last season all three games were highly competitive, it would be foolish to not observe that Miami has gotten considerably better as of late.

That being said, squish the fish! 

 

So have the Bills.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

1 minute ago, Doc said:

 

So have the Bills.

 

 

The Bills have been really good for 4 seasons now. There hasn't been much room if any to get "considerably better as of late".  While Miami has been able to compete with the Bills just recently. Unless "late" is a comparison going back to the Pre-Allen Bills, I would not say the Bills have gotten considerably better since say 2020 or 2021. 

 

Miami's offense is explosive. Can give any team trouble when they are on. Their defense appears to not be all that good. At least not at slowing down the Bills offense. 

 

[Gregg]

Just now, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 

 

The Bills have been really good for 4 seasons now. There hasn't been much room if any to get "considerably better as of late".  While Miami has been able to compete with the Bills just recently. Unless "late" is a comparison going back to the Pre-Allen Bills, I would not say the Bills have gotten considerably better since say 2020 or 2021. 

 

Miami's offense is explosive. Can give any team trouble when they are on. Their defense appears to not be all that good. At least not at slowing down the Bills offense. 

 

 

Do you think Tua can stay healthy all year. I would say probably not. Mike White is a serviceable back-up QB but if he has to be "the guy" if Tua misses a significant amount of time then the Dolphins are in trouble.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

6 hours ago, JerseyBills said:

I'll match up to 1k on that bet for the Bills 

HOUSE and I are both in for a buck for the Bills...HOUSE, cover for me until I see you? (Yes, it's a U.S. dollar I'm in for...)

[Lane Meyer K12]

5 hours ago, Doc said:

 

So have the Bills.

Possibly, on paper.

No games have been played yet. 

Judging by the games played last year and years previous, Miami has closed the gap. 

That is really all anyone can logically go on until the games are played this year. 

[starrymessenger]

5 hours ago, Gregg said:

 

Do you think Tua can stay healthy all year. I would say probably not. Mike White is a serviceable back-up QB but if he has to be "the guy" if Tua misses a significant amount of time then the Dolphins are in trouble.

Nothing personal (seems like an ok guy) but I have little faith in Tua. I doubt that he stays healthy enuf to play a full season. And while he has weapons I don't think he can consistently make the best use of them. Just not on the same level as his supporting cast. I think he's accident prone both physically and as a playmaker. Imo both the Jets and the Finns are at far greater risk of having their seasons implode than the Bills.

[Augie]

1 hour ago, Lane Meyer K12 said:

Possibly, on paper.

No games have been played yet. 

Judging by the games played last year and years previous, Miami has closed the gap. 

That is really all anyone can logically go on until the games are played this year. 

 

Why would you say since no games have been played, we must logically say Miami has closed the gap? That’s not logical at all. If we are judging by last year, the Bills won 2 of 3, and the third was a farce in an oven.  (The NFL still needs to address the inequity of that stadium situation.) The Bills owned all he stats and finished with a TE playing OLine with a torn ACL due to attrition from the heat. I can’t take much from that game. The playoff game was close only because the Bills shot themselves in the foot. Repeatedly. And still won. I suppose that game was a sign of things to come. Can’t play terrible six quarters in a row in the playoffs. 

 

If we need to see games played to judge anything, then the gap should be the same. If we are going by what has happened on paper, maybe the gap is closed, or maybe it’s become wider, depending upon your viewpoint. Or maybe it has in fact remained the same. 

 

If we want to be as objective as possible, I go back to the Vegas odds to win the Super Bowl. Vegas and the gambling world has the Bills somewhat behind KC (fair enough) with Miami significantly behind the Bills. They don’t have a dog in the fight. 

 

The Dolphins are a legit team and a threat every week. I’m not trashing them, though I don’t trust Tua to hold up over a season. Anyone can be hurt, but he’s been like a China doll in college and so far in the pros. If you want to go back and look at Super Bowl odds from LAST year, maybe they have closed the gap from last year, but they are still a good bit behind as we sit today as judged by those with no rooting interest. 

 

 

.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Augie

[Gregg]

2 minutes ago, starrymessenger said:

Nothing personal (seems like an ok guy) but I have little faith in Tua. I doubt that he stays healthy enuf to play a full season. And while he has weapons I don't think he can consistently make the best use of them. Just not on the same level as his supporting cast. I think he's accident prone both physically and as a playmaker. Imo both the Jets and the Finns are at far greater risk of having their seasons implode than the Bills.

 

I think the Jets are legit, but I hope you are right about them. 

[Billl]

18 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

Easy way to solve this

 

Oct1 I'll take the Bills you take the fish for as much as you want 

 

Ask @Zerovoltzabout it 

What's to solve?  Here's the statement in the OP that I responded to originally:

 

"Yes, they have a decent team on paper but what have they proven? Constantly being mentioned in the same breath as KC, Cincinnati and Buffalo."

 

To that, I say that Buffalo hasn't proven that they should be mentioned alongside Cincinnati and Kansas City then.  Miami has proven they can beat Buffalo in the regular season just as Buffalo has proven they can beat Kansas City in the regular season.  Neither Miami nor Buffalo have done squat in the postseason.  

 

Unless you consider having lower Super Bowl odds to be some sort of accomplishment, then the Bills haven't proven they belong in the conversation with the Chiefs any more than Miami has proven they belong in the conversation with the Bills.  It's really not any more complicated than that.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Billl

[GoBills808]

6 minutes ago, Billl said:

What's to solve?  Here's the statement in the OP that I responded to originally:

 

"Yes, they have a decent team on paper but what have they proven? Constantly being mentioned in the same breath as KC, Cincinnati and Buffalo."

 

To that, I say that Buffalo hasn't proven that they should be mentioned alongside Cincinnati and Kansas City then.  Miami has proven they can beat Buffalo in the regular season just as Buffalo has proven they can beat Kansas City in the regular season.  Neither Miami nor Buffalo have done squat in the postseason.  

 

Unless you consider having lower Super Bowl odds to be some sort of accomplishment, then the Bills haven't proven they belong in the conversation with the Chiefs any more than Miami has proven they belong in the conversation with the Bills.  It's really not any more complicated than that.

Like I said very easy to put your $$ where your mouth is if you think Dolphins are close to Bills

 

I'm game for betting the Bills Chiefs game also

 

If you think the gap between these teams aligns w your thinking let's put some skin in the game

[starrymessenger]

1 hour ago, Gregg said:

 

I think the Jets are legit, but I hope you are right about them. 

Sure. AR is an all time great. Tua is more likely a marginal bit player by comparison. But as others have noted it will be interesting to see how a 39 year old Aaron makes out behind that O-line. 

[Doc]

8 hours ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

The Bills have been really good for 4 seasons now. There hasn't been much room if any to get "considerably better as of late".  While Miami has been able to compete with the Bills just recently. Unless "late" is a comparison going back to the Pre-Allen Bills, I would not say the Bills have gotten considerably better since say 2020 or 2021. 

 

Miami's offense is explosive. Can give any team trouble when they are on. Their defense appears to not be all that good. At least not at slowing down the Bills offense.

3 hours ago, Lane Meyer K12 said:

Possibly, on paper.

No games have been played yet. 

Judging by the games played last year and years previous, Miami has closed the gap. 

That is really all anyone can logically go on until the games are played this year. 

 

It's the same paper.  Miami has to prove they've closed the gap.  It's not like the Bills did nothing over the off-season.

[Beck Water]

10 hours ago, Gregg said:

 

Do you think Tua can stay healthy all year. I would say probably not. Mike White is a serviceable back-up QB but if he has to be "the guy" if Tua misses a significant amount of time then the Dolphins are in trouble.

 

I could be mistaken, I often am...but I think Mike White may look better when throwing to Waddle and Hill in the Dolphins offense than he did passing to Garrett Wilson and Tyler Conklin in Mike LaFleur's offense.

 

4 hours ago, Lane Meyer K12 said:

Judging by the games played last year and years previous, Miami has closed the gap. 

That is really all anyone can logically go on until the games are played this year. 

 

How have they "closed the gap" judging by games played last year?  Their record was 9-8.  5 straight losses, including 4 with Tua.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Beck Water

[HaldimandBills]

Miami might have closed the gap although their oline is worse than ours and their entire offseason seemed to be Ramsey and Fangio. One is gone. Will see what steps the offense takes in year two. I still say the Media was always hype large market teams and New York and Miami are two large markets.

 

I personally think people are sleeping on the Patriots. That defense is the best in the division and will have competent coaching this season on the offensive side of the ball. Mac Jones just had to throw for 250 yards again and limit turnovers and that team is winning 10 games. 

 

One of New York or Miami is flaming out. 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

10 hours ago, Gregg said:

 

Do you think Tua can stay healthy all year. 

of course not. 

[Zerovoltz]

3 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

Like I said very easy to put your $$ where your mouth is if you think Dolphins are close to Bills

 

I'm game for betting the Bills Chiefs game also

 

If you think the gap between these teams aligns w your thinking let's put some skin in the game

Hey 808....I didn't see this whole thread, but I do see you might be looking for some Chiefs/Bills action?  100 bucks again?

[Billl]

3 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

Like I said very easy to put your $$ where your mouth is if you think Dolphins are close to Bills

 

I'm game for betting the Bills Chiefs game also

 

If you think the gap between these teams aligns w your thinking let's put some skin in the game

You’re demonstrating my point perfectly.  If the Bills had already proven anything, you wouldn’t have to offer wagers about future games.  You’d point to the trophies.  

 

My disagreement with the OP (and evidently you) is that you seem to think that the Bills have already accomplished something that makes the first of these statements true and the next statement untrue:

 

1.  The Bengals, Bills, and Chiefs all expect to win the Super Bowl.

 

2.  The Dolphins and Bills both expect to win the AFCE.

 

I say both are true.  There’s an argument to be made that neither are true, but there’s no way that one is true and the other is false.  If it’s reasonable to associate the Bills with the Chiefs based on what the teams have proven then it’s reasonable to associate the Dolphins with the Bills based on what the teams have proven.