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Dolphins at Bills: Where to Watch, How to Watch, and What to Watch

The Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills meet for the first time this season tonight. Here's a look at how to watch the game, some things to watch, and everything else you need to be ready for tonight's game.

Marc Serota

The Miami Dolphins have dropped two straight games, and are looking to respond on a short week. The team has traveled north today to face the Buffalo Bills, the first half of the home-and-home series against their AFC East division rivals. How can you watch the game? Of course, we have all the information you need.

First, the pertinent data for the game:

Time: 8:20 pm Eastern
TV - NFL Network
Announcers - Brad Nessler, Mike Mayock, Alex Flanagan

Obviously, this is a nationally televised game tonight, so everyone should be getting the game (assuming you have NFLN). Locally around Miami, you will get the game on MY-33.

For our international fans, we can help you find the game.:

Canada:

Time (Eastern) Game Channel Markets
8:20 Dolphins at Bills SportsNet, RDS Canada

United Kingdom:

Time (Western European) Game Channel Markets
01:20 (Friday) Dolphins at Bills SkySports UK

Germany:

Time (Central European) Game Channel Markets
02:00 (Friday) Dolphins at Bills ESPN America Germany

Australia:

Time (Eastern-Sydney) Game Channel Markets
12:00pm (Friday) Dolphins at Bills ESPN Australia, One HD Australia

AFN:

Time (CET; Iraq/Kuwait; Afghanistan; Korea) Game Channel Markets
0200 (Fri) / 0400 (Fri) / 0530 (Fri) / 00 (Fri) Chargers at Buccaneers Prime Atlantic AFN


If you want to catch the radio broadcast, with Jimmy Cefalo, Joe Rose, and Bob Griese, it will be on BIG 105.9 FM in the Miami area, and across the Miami Dolphins Radio Network throughout Florida. You can also listen to the game on MiamiDolphins.com.

KEY INJURIES:

Dolphins:

  • Questionable: WR Jabar Gaffney (knee), TE Jeron Mastrud (hamstring)
  • Probable: LB Karlos Dansby (biceps), WR Brian Hartline (knee), C Mike Pouncey (knee, ankle)

Bills:

  • Out: RB Fred Jackson (concussion), DE Chris Kelsay (neck)
  • Probable: DE Marcell Dareus (shoulder, hamstring), RB C.J. Spiller (shoulder), DE Mario Williams (wrist, knee)

Related: Full Injury Report

WHAT TO WATCH:

1. Miami Rushing Offense vs. Buffalo Defense - Last week, I wrote: "The Titans are the 30th ranked rush defense in the league. The Dolphins have struggled to get their running game going the past few weeks, and have relied on Ryan Tannehill's right arm. Will Reggie Bush and Daniel Thomas be able to find space this week?" Reread that, replaces "Titans" with "Bills" and "30th" with "32nd" and we cover this week.

2. Dolphins Rush Defense - Last week, the Dolphins allowed their first 100 yard rusher in 22 straight games. Chris Johnson was able to cut back, and through, the Miami defense all day. Tonight, the Dolphins face another shifty, quick running back, who can gauge them if the linebackers don't stay at home. Miami has to stay disciplined tonight if they want to hold Spiller below his 7.3 yards per carry average this season.

3. Sean Smith - Really, this is all about the secondary, but Smith needs to step up and lead them. Smith has to find a way to hold on to interceptions, and he has to play better than he has the last couple of weeks. The Dolphins will most likely pit him against Stevie Johnson throughout the game. If the Dolphins are going to succeed this week, Smith has to be able to cover Johnson like he did A.J. Green and Larry Fitzgerald.


Related: Kdog92's What to Watch For

Quotes:

"I think part of it is, I thought our best rushing day actually was against the Houston Texans, one of the better teams in the league and I thought we ran the ball real well. After the first couple of ball games, I think people started playing us a little bit differently and we have to be able to counteract that. We should still be able to run the ball better than we're running it right now. I thought we ran it better against certain teams that we probably shouldn't have at different times, but, to me, it's more of a function of our inability to convert third downs and stay on the field. A penalty here. We've had some runs that are called back because of penalties. Significant runs called back because of a penalty. Reggie had the run the other day that was a heck of a run and we get the first down, but we can't stay on the field. It just seems like there are certain elements that we're not functioning on all cylinders in regard to the running game. It's a little bit here and a little bit here. It's no one thing, no one person. It's a collective effort, but in order for us to be successful, particularly here in the second half of the season, I believe that we're going to have to be able to re-establish it some point. We've been trying to do that and we haven't re-established the run game and hopefully we can do that this week." - Miami Dolphins Offensive Coordinator Mike Sherman on Reggie Bush's struggles lately, 11/12/12

"It has to. Definitely you are right about that. If we want to make this push this is the game that it has to start on. We hoped that it would have started last week or the week before that but it is what it is and Thursday we have the Miami Dolphins coming in, a division opponent and if we want to get to the playoffs we have to win this game and win on out." - Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson on the Bills' turnaround starting against the Miami Dolphins, 11/13/12

"We're going to see what kind of character we have bouncing back this week." - Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill on looking ahead to the Buffalo Bills game after the poor team performance against the Tennessee Titans, 11/11/12

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