McDermott: 'It's about points, not yards' against Miami

Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - It's a short week for the Buffalo Bills, as the team gets ready to head to South Florida for a key divisional matchup with the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night at Hard Rock Stadium.

Heading into Thursday's contest, eyes will be on Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who injured his non-throwing hand during Buffalo's 34-28 win over the Arizona Cardinals this past Sunday. While he has been deemed ready to go by Bills head coach Sean McDermott, Allen was testing out a glove on his left hand in practice.

"The trainers have done a really nice job, again, in a short window of time because of the quick turnaround," said McDermott on Wednesday during an appearance on the "Extra Point Show" with Sal Capaccio. "I think everyone's done a phenomenal job, including Josh. He'll play a big part for us in the game."

Meanwhile, the Bills will be without cornerback Taron Johnson due to a forearm injury, along with defensive end Dawuane Smoot, who's dealing with a toe injury. In addition, rookie defensive end Javon Solomon is listed as doubtful for Thursday due to an oblique injury.

The loss of Johnson early this past Sunday was huge for the defense, but a number of other depth players were ready to step up and contribute. This included a couple of players from the University at Buffalo, Cam Lewis and Ja'Marcus Ingram.

McDermott felt that Ingram's training camp performance helped him in his preparation and performance Week 1. He's also been happy to see a number of local products stepping up not just on Sunday, but throughout the preseason.

As the Bills get ready to face a high-powered Miami squad on both sides of the ball, McDermott has been preaching ball security offensively, and making sure that drives are ending in points.

"Typically against the Dolphins with their high-powered offense, it's about points, not yards, and then taking care of the football," McDermott explained. "You look at the games that we've played, the first game last season, we were able to take the ball away and score, and score touchdowns rather than field goals. In the second game, we had yards, but not as many points. So it's points over yards, and making sure we take care of the ball."

Kickoff this Thursday is slated for 8:15 p.m. ET, and can be heard on WGR with Chris Brown, Eric Wood and Sal Capaccio on the call.