Sammy Watkins' Rib

The plus for the Dolphins may be that by continuing to throw Tua out there and having Fitz come in late, they are getting enough film on Tua to decide whether they need to take another QB with the Texans top 5 pick. If I am Dolphins fan I am less than thrilled from what I have seen out of Tua on the field. He seems like a good kid i just don't see any physical tools there and combine that with him being pretty short in stature I don't see him being a long-term answer. As of now he is being shown up by his former teammate Hertz.

I thought the everyone made a big deal about the Titans and Chiefs doing something different in those games? That it was a new type of coverage that Allen saw? I don't think it was strictly man to man like the Dolphins played in week 2. Or was that narrative made up?

If Tua were to play the entire game I think we have a 50/50 chance with Barkley at QB and DIggs and Beasley sitting. If Fitz plays a significant amount I'm not sure we stand a chance against them with mostly back ups.

Josh has owned the Dolphins. BUT, I feel like this Dolphins defense is not the same defense we faced in week 2. Looking long-term, I rather not give the Dolphins any confidence at all that they can come to Buffalo in January and win, regardless of whether that is against mostly back ups or not. I agree with the OP. Beat the Dolphins with starter or back-ups whichever it may be and let the chips fall where they may. There is still a decent chance anyway that we can beat the Dolphins week 17 and eliminate them while at the same time the Ravens could finish with the 5th or 6th seed. In either of these scenarios we would match up with either the Browns or the Colts in the first round. For this to happen the Steelers just have to win one of their final two games. As bad as the Steelers have been I can see this happening. Hard to lose 5 straight. On a side note, I think the Ravens should be on upset alert today. Giants have a scrappy defense and i could see them shutting Jackson down. Just not sure the GIants can make enough plays on offense.

It's got to be hard on the whole team too. The skill position players, the defense, everyone. They all see how much better the offense moves the ball down the field with Fitz. Why bust your ass for this coach for an entire half trying to keep a game close waiting for Fitz to come in so you can win by 3? Start Fitz from the get go and you can have some nice numbers for your next contract and maybe not have to play the final few minutes of the game with a comfortable lead.

I was surprised to see that Baltimore has a number of different ways they can get in if they win out. In fact, they can finish as high as the 5th seed. Either of the Browns or Colts finishing 1-1 would get the Ravens in.

Division records is thrown out because the three teams are not in the same division. Next tie breaker would be conference record which would be a tie because each team would have one loss to an NFC team. Bills would lose the SOV tiebreaker as of yesterday with the Saints gaining one more victory and further strengthening KC's SOV.

All I know is that a week ago the playoff machine showed that it was possible for KC, Buffalo and Pittsburgh to all finish 13-3 with the Bills taking the 1 seed. But now that KC has beaten the Saints and strengthened their SOV it no longer looks possible. I am guessing the Saints winning yesterday sealed the deal. I think until yesterday we needed all three teams to finish 13-3 AND have the Saints lose to the Vikings and Browns lose to the Jets.

Three way tiebreaker between Steelers, Bills and Chiefs. But not sure how we would win it.

Three teams are tied at 13-3 in the scenario they are describing. Bills, Steelers and K.C. So head to head tie breakers do not apply.

Not that simple. Last i knew a couple other games had to go our way based on SOV tie breakers. Jets needed to beat the Browns. But right now, playing around with the playoff machine I can't seem to find anyway that the Bills can get the #1 seed.

I don't know that there is anything he can do. This might be a route. Division clinched, already got that Patriots monkey off our back. Weather looks tame. Gilmore is out. John Brown is likely back. This one feels like a blow-out. Decent chance a lot of players rest the majority of the next game so we might bring a little extra this game. Bills are playing with confidence and like they still have business to take care of. Patriots are playing without confidence and for nothing. LOL. I've seen that. And every time I'm like "why?"

My point is you wouldn't be suggesting the skill players are so bad if they all had a couple hundred more yards and a couple more TD's each on the season because Tua never played 7 games. Bueller? Bueller?

THIS! There is just something about this Dolphins team. They are getting every bounce. Their rookie QB is garbage yet they still compete and just about win every game. I'm not favoring any match up really. And a match up with the Dolphins would be frustrating because we could be up 10 at the half and totally shutting down Tua only to then have to deal with Fitz and a better offense in the second half. They are night and day better with Fitz under center. The offensive skill players are not nearly as bad as they seem.

Kurt Warner had a great comment that Tua needs to get used to NFL open for WR's. And he has a larger learning curve than other QB's because of how talented Alabama is. Thing I dislike most about Tua is that he doesn't seem to have a single elite skill set of any kind. You're basically hoping he can be the second coming of Drew Brees.

But neither side of the ball started stagnant in last years wild card game. We were up 16-0 at the half so I don't think that was the reason we lost. If I am McDermott I think I actually take a page out of Belicheck's handbook on how they've approached meaningless games in the past. It typically involves resting guys like Edleman or Gronk but having Brady start and play the entire first half. But a lot of handoffs and safe throws. BUT, my big concern with Josh would be that he's not wired to live another down and take the safe play. He could end up getting hurt because he's trying to complete a first down on 3rd and 13.

Halftime would be the earliest IMO. Best case scenario for the Bills is we get up three TD's in the first quarter and a half and the Dolphins offense has one first down for the whole game and I still think he would stick with Tua until at least half time. Flores can say to the media "well nothing was going right in that game up to that point. Offense, defense special teams were all failing. Making a QB change there wouldn't have turned the game around".

Question is do we let them win to keep Baltimore out while at the same time possibly dropping from the 2 seed to the 3 or 4 seed. Ever since the Bengals got beat down by the Jets and Mark Sanchez in the wild card game after laying down to the Jets week 17 I have always hated the idea of letting an opponent beat you when you will face them the following week. Not sure if it has happened since then. I want to say maybe Packers/Vikings but I think the Packers at least won the rematch? Well we intentionally through the game with the Jets last year. So who knows?

No, no, no! That can't be right. It's an NFC opponent. Didn't we establish it is best to lose those games?

Miami with Fitz is as respectable as any other team not named KC IMO. Probably better than the Ravens. With Tua they are the worst team in the dance.

Got to add Henry rushes for less than 100 yards tomorrow night. The more I think about it the more I think Henry has a legit shot at the MVP if the Titans can knock off the Packers. And if ever there were a year worthy of Co-MVP's it is this year. If Henry can get about 125 yards this week he will only need about 200 next week against the Texans. He ran for over 200 against the Texans in each of the last two games he has played against them. As for Allen and the Bills, every know and then you just get a gut feeling on a game. I've had a gut feeling on the Bills blowing out the Patriots on MNF for several weeks now. And that feeling is only getting stronger. If it is a blowout hopefully Allen will be responsible for 4 or 5 TD's. I'm not too concerned about getting the run game going. They've ran well in a few games when they really made it a focus of what they wanted to do. First Patriots game, final drive of the Steelers game etc.

With the way the two teams are trending of late I wouldn't be shocked to see the Jets a pick em against the Patriots week 17. Jets may not be done winning this season.

These are problems good teams have. Good to be finally having these kind of problems rather than looking at the draft this time of year. Best of luck to Kumerow.

I don't think we smoke them. They are a good team. I do no for sure, no way in hell we get blown out. It would be a one score game at worst. Josh was by far the best player on the field for us that day. I didn't think the shoulder affected him much at all that day. The injuries and discombobulated schedule is what killed our chances in that game.