Bills vs. Dolphins Week 9 preview: What has Miami been up to?

The Buffalo Bills are set to host the Miami Dolphins for the second game of the annual divisional series. The two teams squared off in Week 2, where Buffalo had a decisive victory in South Beach. It's been nearly half a season since then and things can change. So let's take a look at what Miami's been up to recently in preparation for Round 2.

Tua Tagovailoa Let's address the elephant in the room right away as a lot of the rest gets impacted by this particular piece of the puzzle. For most of the time that's elapsed since we last saw Miami, the Dolphins have been without starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who suffered a(nother) scary concussion against the Bills.

Tagovailoa returned to action just last week in a narrow loss to the Arizona Cardinals . Skylar Thompson, Tyler Huntley, and Tim Boyle had been filling in, so it's safe to say that the rest of the talk of the offense should be colored by the fact the Dolphins haven't been putting their best foot forward.

With that said, I'll preface the remainder of my section on Tagovailoa with the fact that it was already 31-10 when he exited the Week 2 game. Tua had three interceptions and generally bad stats against Buffalo.

Aside from a bad showing against the Bills, Tagovailoa has not thrown another interception, has largely avoided sacks, and has had respectable stats overall. The big caveat with Tagovailoa is sample size. While his other games have been pretty good, he's only had two of them. Ultimately though, it's quite clear that the Dolphins are far more dangerous with Tagovailoa than without.

Game-by-game results Right after facing Buffalo, Miami was trounced by the Seattle Seahawks 24-3. An overmatched Skylar Thompson and Tim Boyle were forced to throw the ball in an effort to keep up, which clearly didn't work. The defense allowed a good deal of quick points before putting up any major resistance.

Against the Tennessee Titans the following week, the Dolphins' defense did the opposite, holding strong early and performing well nearly through three quarters, all things considered. The 31-12 loss gives up the rest of the tale. Miami tried to lean on the run game but managed a meager 3.53 yards per carry. Despite running the ball on nearly 60% of their plays, the Dolphins held the ball for just over 25 minutes — an incredibly lopsided time of possession.

The Dolphins won their next game, which was against the New England Patriots by a score of 15-10. Despite this being against the Patriots, the score should be considered a resounding success for Miami's defense. The offense put up a single touchdown at the end of the game and suffered two turnovers along the way.

Despite losing to the Indianapolis Colts 16-10, this was another successful day for the Dolphins' defense by holding the Colts to their second-lowest point output of the season. The offense continued to rely on the run game and managed 4.7 yards per carry, but as you can see this didn't result in a lot of points.

The return of Tua Tagovailoa led to a 28-27 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Miami led nearly the entire game, but a last-second field goal tipped it to Arizona's favor. The defense was what faltered this time around, and the newly returned Tagovailoa achieved the highest point total for the Dolphins this season.

When taking a look at defensive stats, the Miami Dolphins hover right around average and that mostly makes sense based on game results. Teams that find a groove can find consistent success, but the Dolphins are good enough to sometimes find a groove of their own.

On offense, Tua Tagovailoa has proven how important he is to their identity by being removed from the game for an extended period. Without him, the Dolphins scored 10 points a game, which is quite literally laughable. With Tagovailoa, they're averaging 19 points a game. That would tie the New York Jets for 24th worst in the league, which is unfortunately a considerable improvement.

The Final Straw You won't find any deviation from the mainstream narrative by me. This is a game the Buffalo Bills should expect to win. Division games are always tough. I know, I know. Division games can be weird. I know, I know. Tua Tagovailoa has something to prove. Look, I get all that. I truly understand flukes happen too.

So, I'm not guaranteeing a win, but this is a game you shouldn't lose sleep over worrying ahead of it. The Dolphins are absolutely better with Tagovailoa behind center, but there's no current reason to believe he elevates the team beyond the Bills.