NFL Week 4: Tua Tagovailoa and the revolution
The NFL’s two highest-scoring teams will square off on Sunday when the Miami Dolphins visit the Buffalo Bills.
After becoming the fourth NFL team to reach 70 points in a game and the second with more than 700 yards in a single contest in its Week 3 game, Miami has 39 more points and 501 more yards than Buffalo this season.
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Bills coach Sean McDermott hasn’t seen anything like the Dolphins’ “unreal team speed on the offensive side.”
“Their schematics are almost revolutionary in what they do,” McDermott said. “Coach (Mike) McDaniel’s very creative and does a lot of things to get you out of position on defense. …
“Usually, you look at an offense and say, ‘Hey, well we’re going to take this away and that’s their strength.’ In this case, you try to stop the pass, they beat you in the run, and they’re very explosive all over the place. Any guy that touches the ball has a chance to get to the house. …
“They definitely attack horizontally, but they also attack vertically with the speed element. They do a great job. As I said before, it’s revolutionary, the scheme that they use, and it seems they’ve added some things since last season at this point, and they’re obviously giving people a lot of problems right now.”
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa leads the AFC with 1,024 passing yards and eight touchdown passes and has the NFL’s best passing-efficiency rating at 121.9 three weeks into the 2023 campaign.
But since Tagovailoa joined Miami from Alabama as the fifth pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Dolphins have lost six of their seven games against the Bills. Tagovailoa played in five of the games, including the lone victory, although he sustained fractured ribs in one of the contests.
Against Buffalo, Tagovailoa has completed 87-of-149 passes for 999 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions. He has a 76.4 passing-efficiency rating against the Bills. Against the rest of the NFL, it’s 100.3.
Buffalo is 2-1 after opening the season with a 22-16 loss to the New York Jets. The Bills are coming off a 37-3 victory over the Washington Commanders that included nine sacks and four interceptions.
“We got to beat these guys,” Tagovailoa said on Wednesday. “That’s how I see it. I don’t think there’s any other way to look at it. We got to beat these guys. They’re the next team up, and that’s how I think all our guys see it. We’re not worried about anyone else right now this week except for the Bills.”
Miami is the only undefeated team in the AFC going into the first of its two regular-season meetings against Buffalo, which has won the AFC East for the previous three years.
“I don’t think anyone around the league cares who’s 3-0 or who’s 4-0, who’s 0-3,” Tagovailoa said. “I mean, there’s a lot of football left to be played and that’s how we’re looking at this as a team. We have a tremendous amount of respect for the Bills and their coaching staff, things that they can do in all three phases of the game. But we’re excited for that challenge. We’re excited to go back up there and play those guys.”
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The Alabama Game of the Week is the Washington Commanders-Philadelphia Eagles contest on Sunday. Seventeen players from Alabama high schools and colleges are on the teams’ active rosters.
The complete Week 4 schedule (with all times Central and point spreads from Catena):
Thursday
· Detroit Lions (-1.5) at Green Bay Packers, 7:15 p.m. (Prime Video)
Sunday
· Atlanta Falcons vs. Jacksonville Jaguars (-3) in London, 8:30 a.m. (ESPN+)
· Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills (-2.5), noon (WIAT, WHNT, WKRG, WAKA, WTVY)
· Minnesota Vikings (-4) at Carolina Panthers, noon
· Denver Broncos (-3.5) at Chicago Bears, noon
· Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns (-2.5), noon
· Pittsburgh Steelers (-3) at Houston Texans, noon
· Los Angeles Rams at Indianapolis Colts (-1), noon
· Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints (-3), noon (WBRC, WALA, WCOV, WDFX)
· Washington Commanders at Philadelphia Eagles (-8.5), noon
· Cincinnati Bengals (-2.5) at Tennessee Titans, noon (WZDX)
· Las Vegas Raiders at Los Angeles Chargers (-5.5), 3:05 p.m.
· New England Patriots at Dallas Cowboys (-7), 3:25 p.m. (WBRC, WZDX, WALA, WCOV, WDFX)
· Arzona Cardinals at San Francisco 49ers (-14), 3:25 p.m.
· Kansas City Chiefs (-9.5) at New York Jets, 7:20 p.m. (NBC)
Monday
· Seattle Seahawks at New York Giants (-1.5), 7:15 p.m. (ABC, ESPN)
CHECK OUT MAPS OF SUNDAY’S BROADCAST TV COVERAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.