Buffalo Bills (5-1) at Miami Dolphins (2-4)
Sunday, October 26, 2008 1PM EDT

Since the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins have played each other plenty over the years, I decided to revisit the last 3 year as opposed to the last 5 games. Over that span the Bills have won 5 of 6 and 4 in a row.

October 9, 2005: Bills 20, Dolphins 14 (in Buffalo)
The Bills scored 17 unanswered points to start the game and hung on to win. The Dolphins commit 18 penalties for 102 yards in this one, which surely helped Kelly Holcomb pull out the win.

December 4, 2005: Dolphins 24, Bills 23 (in Miami)
Tough loss here.  The Bills jumped out to a 21-point lead on the strength of 3 J.P. Losman-to-Lee Evans touchdowns. The Bills offense then proceeds to go and hide. The Dolphins score 21 fourth quarter points, capped by a Sage Rosenfels-to-Chris Chambers 4-yard TD pass with six seconds on the clock.

September 17, 2006: Bills 16, Dolphins 6 (in Miami)
J.P. threw for a whopping 83 yards, but the Bills played solid defense, sacking Dante Culpepper 7 times and pulling off an early season upset of the heavily favored Dolphins. This game marks the start of the down turn for the Dolphins.

December 17, 2006: Bills 21, Dolphins 0 (in Buffalo)
The Bills finished off the season sweep of the Dolphins with a shut-out. The Bills only gave up 6 points to the Dolphins all year! J.P. Losman tossed 3 TDs, 1 each to Robert Royal, Josh Reed, and Lee Evans.

November 11, 2007: Bills 13, Dolphins 10 (in Miami)
The Bills were losing 10 -2 heading into the fourth quarter, the only points coming on a Chris Kelsay safety. The Bills scored 11 points in the final stanza, including a Rian Lindell FG with :46 left on the clock to pull out the win. Rumblings recap.

December 9, 2007: Bills 38, Dolphins 17 (in Buffalo)
Robert Royal and Lee Evans each caught 2 TD passes from then-rookie Trent Edwards.  John Beck practically handed George Wilson a TD and the Bills roll in an easy victory. Rumblings recap.

It's Friday, and that means we're back with another tour of the AFC East.  Each week, we'll be talking to bloggers covering the Buffalo Bills' fiercest rivals - their divisional opponents.  We'll wrap up today's trio of interviews by diving into yet another quarterback controversy; this time, we're talking Dolphins quarterbacks with Matty I of The Phinsider:

  Obviously, there appears to be a bit of a quarterback controversy brewing in Miami.  Who wins the job - John Beck? Chad Henne? Josh McCown?  Who do you want to start?

  The Phinsider: Well here's the situation as it stands right now.  Despite the national media (ESPN, NFLN, SI.com, etc…) wanting you to think that Chad Henne (because he was drafted by this regime) could start this season, it's not going to happen.  So don't even waste time discussing it.  He's been working as the team's 3^rd quarterback in mini-camp and OTAs, so barring major injury issues, I don't think Henne sees the field in the regular season in 2008.

As for the other two, both Beck and McCown are alternating days with the 1^st team.  To open OTAs, Beck was with the 1^st team.  The next practice, it was McCown.  So nobody right now has a clear advantage, despite some in the South Florida media reporting McCown has a leg up because of his "experience."

When all is said and done, I think the player I want to win the job will be the one that does indeed win it to open the season:  John Beck.  Tony Sparano already said that he's looking at all the players with a clean slate, so last season's struggles mean nothing.  This off-season, nobody has probably outworked John.  He's been hitting the weight room, putting on 15 or so pounds of muscle to help him make it through a 16 game season, and has been in Davie all winter and spring working with new QB coach David Lee.  Most importantly, he's looked the best throwing the ball out of the 3 so far in the few practices that have taken place. 

I've already put my reputation on the line over on my site by saying this, and I'll say it again: come September 7 against the Jets, it will be John Beck under center.  Oh, and he'll play relatively well, too.

Let me just say this - I, for one, am hoping John Beck is the victor of this competition as well.  Buffalo had a lot of trouble defending Cleo Lemon-led Dolphin drives last season (how embarrassing is that?), but the Bills' makeshift defense had Beck flustered beyond belief in a December rout of the Dolphins in Buffalo.  I haven't seen a quarterback play that poorly since, unfortunately, Rob Johnson donned a Bills uni.  I actually think that the "clean slate" and swapping of first-team reps at this point between Beck and McCown is more of a PR move to promote competition than an actual competition; Miami has an agenda, and I don't think Beck is part of it long-term.  I'll go with McCown as the opening day starter.

As for Henne, I thought he was the most NFL-ready passer outside of Brian Brohm entering the draft, and I think he's clearly the future of that position in Miami.  Henne may start the season as the #3 QB, but he's the heir apparent - and if McCown wins the starting job and falters, which isn't exactly tenuous prognosticating, my guess is that Henne gets the call before Beck once the Dolphins hit a certain point in the season.  I feel confident that he'll see the field by the end of '08.

We'll wrap up the entire activity of this week's version of Around the AFC East later on this evening.