For the second straight week, the Buffalo Bills (4-7) will square off against a struggling team from Florida. This time, it’s a divisional rival, the Miami Dolphins (5-6), and the two teams are heading in opposite directions.
The Bills have won back-to-back games for the first time all season — a 41-10 trouncing of the New York Jets in Week 10 and a 24-21 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 12 — while the Dolphins have cooled off following a surprising 3-0 start to the season. Miami enters play having lost six of its last eight games to move from early playoff contender to on the outside looking in for the sixth and final playoff berth in the AFC.
The Dolphins and Bills have a ton of history in this rivalry, as Sunday’s meeting represents the 109th all-time between these AFC East foes.
Miami leads the series 60-47-1, but Buffalo swept both meetings in 2017, winning 24-16 Dec. 17 at New Era Field, and 22-16 Dec. 31 in South Beach—a game that lifted the Bills into the playoffs for the first time since the 1999 season. Tyrod Taylor connected with Nick O’Leary on a 26-yard touchdown pass, Kyle Williams scored on a one-yard plunge up the middle, and Stephen Hauschka made a pair of field goals as Buffalo raced out to a 19-0 lead.
The Dolphins are listed as 3.5-point favorites in the first of two matchups between these two teams (Buffalo welcomes Miami to New Era Field Dec. 30 in the regular-season finale).
Here’s how to watch the game from home:
TV Schedule
Date: Sunday, December 2, 2018
Time: 1 p.m. Eastern
Channel: The game will be carried locally on CBS on WIVB 4 in Buffalo, WROC 8 in Rochester, WTVH 5 in Syracuse and Utica, WBNG 12 in Binghamton and Elmira, and WENY 36-2 in Elmira. View the broadcast map.
Announcers: Andrew Catalon (play-by-play) and former Bills wide receiver James Lofton (analyst).
Location: Hard Rock Stadium | Miami Gardens, Florida
Radio: WGR 550AM (Buffalo), WCMF 96.5 FM and WROC 950 AM (Rochester), Fan 590 AM (Toronto), WTKW 99.5 FM and WKTV 105.5 FM (Syracuse), and the rest of the Buffalo Bills Radio Network.
Radio Play-by-Play: John Murphy and Mark Kelso in the booth with sideline reporter Sal Capaccio.
Online: NFL Game Pass, NFL.com Game Center
Friday Injury Report
Buffalo Bills
- Full participant: CB Lafayette Pitts (concussion).
- Limited participant: QB Derek Anderson (concussion), TE Charles Clay (hamstring), CB Taron Johnson (shoulder).
- Did not practice: G John Miller (oblique).
- Game-day status: Anderson and Miller have been ruled out, while Clay is questionable. Johnson and Pitts are expected to play.
Miami Dolphins
- Full participant: CB Cornell Armstrong (knee), DE Andre Branch (shoulder/hamstring), TE A.J. Derby (foot/knee), RB Frank Gore (rest), CB Xavien Howard (ankle), OT Ja’Wuan James (knee), FS Reshad Jones (shoulder), CB Bobby McCain (knee), S T.J. McDonald (knee), QB Ryan Tannehill (shoulder), OT Laremy Tunsil (knee).
- Limited participant: RB Kenyan Drake (shoulder), C/G Ted Larsen (neck), WR DeVante Parker (shoulder),
- Did not practice: WR Danny Amendola (knee), C Travis Swanson (ankle).
- Game-day status: Amendola and Swanson are doubtful, while Derby and Parker are questionable.