On turbulent short week, Dolphins prepare to play football against division-rival Bills

MIAMI GARDENS — It’s been a week of emotion, anger, frustration and deep thought on social issues at Miami Dolphins facilities as the team has learned new details and reacted to the news of star wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s detainment and handcuffing Sunday and ensuing body-cam footage surfacing.

Now, the Dolphins try to focus on football .

And it’s a pivotal football game they have ahead of them, facing the AFC East-rival Buffalo Bills right back at Hard Rock Stadium on Thursday night, a mere four days since the incident involving Hill’s interaction with Miami-Dade police officers ahead of the team’s season-opening win against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Dolphins know what’s at stake, as they look to hold serve with an early-season home game against the four-time reigning division champion Bills. If they want to supplant them atop the AFC East, they can’t lose a September home game against them.

“It’s Buffalo. It’s a division game. It’s time to take the East. Let’s go for it,” Miami defensive tackle Zach Sieler said. “I think it’s really exciting to kind of hit the ground running early on in this season and show what we are made of right up front.”

In playing second fiddle to Buffalo, Miami has lost four consecutive meetings and 11 of the past 12 pairings. Among them was the 2023 regular-season finale, which sealed the Bills’ comeback from three games down in the division with five weeks remaining for yet another AFC East crown.

“If you want to do anything in this league, generally, you can’t skip over the much-mandated step of winning your division,” coach Mike McDaniel said, “and there’s one team that’s won the division consecutive years that you could say they, by de facto, own the division until someone takes it from them.

“We would like to be in the situation where we earn the same thing, and there’s one way to do that: You got to beat your division opponents.”

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It’s been a turbulent few days for the Dolphins after Hill was detained and handcuffed by Miami-Dade police officers a block away from Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday morning as Hill was driving in for the game. Pulled over for speeding, the confrontation between he and officers quickly escalated.

“Choked, pinched, kicked,” were among things Hill said Wednesday he experienced, much of which can be seen on officer body-cam video .

Witnessing the detainment, teammates Calais Campbell and Jonnu Smith stopped to check on Hill. Campbell was also detained by cops, and Smith was confronted by one before being ordered to leave the scene.

Hill admitted Wednesday he could’ve acted differently to not allow the situation to escalate, but he called for the officer who has been placed on administrative duty, Danny Torres, to be fired.

The aftermath has led to an emotional McDaniel nearly brought to tears Monday trying to understand what happened. Other coaches and players reacted angrily and some took the opportunity to make social justice statements regarding police interactions with Black people.

Dolphins Deep Dive: Furones and Perkins discuss Tyreek’s reaction to body-camera footage; preview Bills game | VIDEO

“I’m not surprised,” safety Jevon Holland said. “I’m 24. There’s been a bunch of very unsettling and disturbing videos, body cam footage over and over again since Twitter has been a thing, really since Rodney King. I would like to be more shocked and surprised, but I’m not. I just think that’s the society that we live in and the reality of it.”

The Dolphins have a quick turnaround to channel that energy onto the field Thursday night. They have to do it against a quarterback in Josh Allen who has tormented the franchise .

Allen is 11-2 in his career against the Dolphins, including one playoff win. He has thrown for more than 3,500 yards in those 13 games with 36 passing touchdowns and five more on the ground.

“Disciplined football and tackling,” linebacker David Long Jr. said of containing Allen. “Strong quarterback that can make things happen with his feet, so you know how you have to be disciplined. He can make you pay when you’re not.”

Allen is also prone to turning the ball over. He has thrown 78 career interceptions and fumbled 60 times. The Miami defense can look for game-changing opportunities when they present themselves, like how Holland flipped the Dolphins’ fortunes with his forced fumble on Jaguars running back Travis Etienne in Sunday’s season-opening win.

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa can look to take advantage of a Bills secondary that has experienced high levels of turnover this offseason, including safety Jordan Poyer’s move from Buffalo to Miami. Poyer gets his first shot at his former team after flipping sides in the rivalry this offseason.

Tagovailoa, though, won’t have veteran running back Raheem Mostert, already ruled out with a chest injury , and second-year speedster De’Von Achane enters Thursday questionable.

The Dolphins will be wearing throwback uniforms at home for the lone occasion in the 2024 season. They also plan to wear their retro jerseys and helmets for their Thanksgiving Day night game at the Green Bay Packers.

Dolphins Deep Dive: Prediction time — will Miami win Thursday night vs. Josh Allen, Bills? | VIDEO