The Miami Dolphins travel to Orchard Park to face the Buffalo Bills in what is essentially an elimination game. If Miami drops to 6-8, their season is all but over; if the Bills fall to 7-7, they will have to win two games in a row on the road, and they’ll still need a ton of help to make the playoffs.
Speaking of playoffs, your fantasy football playoffs either began last week or will begin this week, and there are a few players from both Buffalo and Miami who can help your team to fantasy football glory. Here are the Dolphins’ best plays this week.
RB Kenyan Drake
It’s starting to become an unfortunate theme: if you can start a running back playing against the Bills, you have to do it. Excluding Kareem Hunt and the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 12, Buffalo has allowed a running back to score at least 14 fantasy points in every game since their Week 8 victory over the Oakland Raiders. Drake, meanwhile, has surpassed the 20-point threshold in consecutive games. He has carried the ball 48 times for 234 yards and a touchdown in those games, while also adding 8 receptions for an even 100 yards. Buffalo will need to shut him down in order to win the game, but if their recent struggles against the run are any indication, it’s likely that Drake continues his streak of excellent performances.
TE Julius Thomas
The Miami tight end has been more of a big name than a big producer in 2017, topping 10 points only once thus far, but he presents a tremendous matchup issue for the Bills. Perhaps Thomas’s ability is part of the reason why the Bills’ coaching staff finally decided to elevate Matt Milano to the starting outside linebacker role, replacing the older and less adept cover man in veteran Ramon Humber. Thomas’s size and soft hands make for a difficult matchup.
WR Jarvis Landry
If I were to roll the dice on a Miami receiver against Buffalo’s stout secondary, I’ll take the steady and efficient Landry in a PPR or half-PPR league. Jay Cutler’s favorite target has caught 88 passes and eight touchdowns this season, and his 131 targets are third in the league behind only DeAndre Hopkins and Antonio Brown. While he’ll almost definitely have Tre’Davious White on him, the Bills mix in plenty of zone looks that could allow the Dolphins to move their best receiver around to exploit better matchups in coverage. For a Bills’ fan to play Landry after his dirty block essentially ended Aaron Williams’s career, he or she would have to put personal feeling aside and think about the points necessary to win.