Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘Tyreek Hill has never had a 100-yard game against the Bills in a regular season game, not with Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City and not with Tua Tagovailoa in Miami. He was about as invisible as he could possibly be in this one, catching just three for 24 yards.’

‘Sal’s prediction: Dolphins 27, Bills 26.’

‘The Dolphins’ turnaround was even more dramatic. They were behind 14-0 early to Jacksonville and then 17-7 late in the third quarter and the Jaguars were on their way to making it 24-7, but Travis Etienne fumbled into the end zone where Miami recovered. On the very next play, Tua Tagovailoa hit Tyreek Hill with an 80-yard touchdown pass and in the final 4:22 of the fourth quarter, Jason Sanders tied the game with a 37-yard field goal and then won it with a walk off 52-yarder for a 20-17 Miami victory.’

‘But here’s the reason why Lewis is still with Buffalo, a player Brandon Beane decided to re-sign in free agency last March: When he gets his opportunities, he makes the most of them no matter what he’s asked to do, and Sunday, he was asked to do a whole lot.’

‘Johnson was hurt on the seventh play of the game and that created some issues for the Bills’ defense. They had to go with Cam Lewis as his replacement, and then cornerback JaMarcus Ingram was thrust into the role of the third safety when Buffalo decided to play six defensive backs.’

‘Obviously, the Bills will have to handle the horrible heat at this time in Miami. The forecast is calling for daytime temperatures right around 90 with the usual stifling humidity, and rain is possible late in the day. Yes, the game is at night so that will help, but it’s still going to be hot – probably in the 80s – and we saw in 2022 how the Bills struggled in the heat in a Week 3 loss to the Dolphins. Last year, the game down there was at night and it was a beautiful 71 degrees, but that was Jan. 7.’

‘Of course, it can never be easy and the Bills had to survive DeeJay Dallas returning the kickoff after Allen’s second rushing TD 96 yards for a touchdown and the Cardinals’ ensuing two-point conversion to cut the margin to 31-28, but the defense – which endured an awful first half – came up with two huge stops in the final five minutes and the Bills survived.’

‘“We got Josh Allen, man, so we always have a chance in games,” said Von Miller. “It didn’t matter how much we were down. It didn’t matter what it looked like. We just got so much trust in Josh Allen and that offense.’

‘The Cardinals finished with 124 rushing yards and averaged five yards per carry, but that was mostly Murray. Conner averaged just 3.1 yards per attempt and 20 of his 50 yards came on one play. Terrel Bernard led the Bills with 11 tackles and Lewis had nine, several coming in the run game. Dorian Williams also played well with eight tackles and a fumble recovery.’

‘Sal’s prediction: Bills 27, Cardinals 17.’

‘Play-by-play: Tom McCarthy. Analyst: Ross Tucker, Jay Feely. Sideline reporter: Tiffany Blackmon.’

‘Jeff Mazurek, the Bills director of equipment operations, said he starts checking the forecast from Buffalo’s NBC affiliate, WGRZ, at least 10 days out. Meteorologists Patrick Hammer and Kevin O’Neill will give him a heads up for the gameday weather.’

‘The Bills hosted the Indianapolis Colts in another December snow game which also started with no pregame precipitation. Once the snow started, it was falling heavily with inches accumulating all over the field. In those conditions, the equipment staff had to try different things and see what would work, Mazurek said.’

‘“Truly a blessing, you know what I mean?” Hamlin said after practice Wednesday. “I reflect back on the whole process and not knowing if I would even be able to play again. Sitting in that uncertainty was like eating at me because football is truly my passion, it’s the thing that I’ve always been obsessed with my entire life. It just all goes to the power of being process oriented and taking things one day at a time and accepting where you are at each moment of the process truly allows you to conquer anything you’re facing.”’

‘First, the Bills need to ween Allen out of the running game. This doesn’t mean that Brady puts a governor on him because he’s such a threat with his legs and you can’t take all of that away from the attack, but the bulk of his attempts should come on improvised scrambles instead of designed runs.’