ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills defense has had to navigate key absences all season long.
However, that hasn't stopped the Bills from fielding one of the top defenses in the league this season, ranking sixth in NFL at 18.3 points allowed per game.
Now that side of the ball is set to potentially get two important pieces back.
Linebacker Von Miller is set to return from a four-game suspension, and captain Terrel Bernard — who missed last week with ankle and pectoral injuries — has practiced both days this week in limited capacity.
"I'm feeling better," Bernard said Wednesday. "Obviously, still some soreness, things I'm trying to work through. Sucks going in and out of the lineup. Feel like Baylon (Spector) has done a great job of coming in and coming in and playing and doing everything they've asked of him to do. Defense played great last week, so it was fun to watch, so yeah, just working trying to get back."
While the Bills defense looks to get a boost this week, it's going up against a Dolphins offense that had arguably its most important player return last week.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa returned to game action last week against the Cardinals, his first start since suffering a concussion Week 2 against the Bills.
With Tagovailoa back in the lineup, the Bills have to prepare to face an offense not like the one we've seen most of the season, but more like the one the Bills prepped for in Week 2.
"They kind of reopened their playbook," Bills defensive end A.J. Epenesa said. "They have a lot of timing and things that they work on very well, and he's kind of their key guy where their timing goes through him."
"The offense is a whole new identity... with Tua back," Bills safety Taylor Rapp said. "I guess that's the tricky part of game-planning this week, you know, trying to figure out exactly what their offense is going to look like, but we've had a lot of history with Tua (Tagovailoa) playing and stuff like that so hopefully just put together a good game plan and go out there and execute."
The Bills will look to execute the way the normally have against the Dolphins, with the Bills take 12 of the last 13 matchups, a stretch of dominance that they would like to continue.
"I wouldn't attribute it to anything specifically other than just us getting out there, playing physical and knowing that it's a divisional game and we better show up to play because they're a talented team," Epenesa said.
"Every division game is a rival game," Bills offensive lineman Spencer Brown said. "You see them twice a year. They know us, we know them."
"The division is pretty drastic," Brown went on to add, referring to the Bills' 3.5-game lead over the Dolphins. "But anything can happen. I think they were up, what, three games, five games last year then they lost it. Whatever the record is, just can't take them lightly and it's a division game at home, so got to get a win."