The Buffalo Bills rule the AFC East.

That’s not necessarily a controversial statement, as there’s no recent evidence to support the contrary. Buffalo has won its division in each of the past four seasons, with the race only being particularly close in one of those campaigns. Even Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel agrees with the sentiment, telling reporters that the Bills “own the division until someone takes it away from them” during his media availability on Wednesday.

The Dolphins came close to taking the AFC East from Buffalo last season, with both teams finishing the campaign with 11-6 records; however, the Bills won both of their regular season games against Miami, allowing Buffalo to retain the tiebreaker. The Dolphins have made a habit of losing to the Bills of late, as Buffalo is a combined 11-2 against Miami since Josh Allen’s rookie season of 2018.

Related: Bills vs. Dolphins NFL Week 2 Preview: An Early Crucial Clash

Adding insult to injury for the Dolphins is Allen’s dominance against “the fish,” as the alien signal-caller has totaled 4,001 yards and 38 touchdowns against division opponents in his professional career. Despite the quarterback’s and the team’s overall success against Miami, some experts believe a changing of the guard is coming; during a recent appearance on Good Morning Footballco-host (and former NFL linebacker) Manti Te’o spoke about Buffalo’s upcoming Week 2 showdown with the Dolphins, implying that history is irrelevant in regards to this week’s game and that Miami is on the verge of overcoming the proverbial threshold.

“We’ve talked about the weather changing, we’ve talked about playing in Buffalo in November, it’s a different scene, different weather, all that stuff,” Te’o said. “History may say the Buffalo Bills have the Miami Dolphins’ number, but this isn’t history. This is 2024. This is the Miami Dolphins. The Buffalo Bills are not the same team they were in the past, starting in the secondary. You think about Tre’Davious White, you think about Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer. Guess where Jordan is, guys? He’s in Miami. We talk about the dominance that defense has had over the years against Tua and Tyreek Hill and co. A lot of that had to do with those two safeties they had there, those two All-Pro safeties that controlled that speed.

“You think about Josh Allen, and he’s dealing with new talent around him. He’s dealing with, I think last week, he threw to seven different targets. He doesn’t have the Stefon Diggs, he doesn’t have the Gabe Davis. To Stefon Diggs’ credit, he was a guy that gave the Bills the opportunity to extend drives and kept Tua off the field and Tyreek off the field. So with those two components alone, I think the Miami Dolphins, they’re going to have a different future starting in 2024.”

There’s a lot to discuss from Te’o’s comments, but we’ll start with his thoughts on Buffalo’s secondary. He notes that the team parted ways with White, Hyde and Poyer in the offseason, which is true, but he leaves out an important point: All three of those players have dealt with various injuries in recent seasons. White has played in just 21 regular-season games over his last three seasons with the Bills, and has faced the Dolphins just four times (he tore his Achilles in Buffalo’s Week 4 clash with Miami last year). While Hyde has played in each of the team’s games with the Dolphins in 2023, he missed both of their divisional clashes in 2022. Poyer missed games against Miami in both 2022 and 2023.

That’s not to say the Bills won’t miss the departed defenders (particularly Hyde and Poyer, as the two effectively provided a “roof” over the defense), but the team has arguably had to do without them in previous games against Miami; they’ve still found ways to win.

Jumping to the offensive side of the ball, Te’o brings up Allen’s multiple-target contacts as if it’s a problem (the former linebacker notes that he targeted seven players in Week 1, but he actually targeted 10 and connected with nine), but it is, if anything, a feather in the offense’s cap. A major issue that Buffalo’s offense has faced in previous years has been an over-reliance on Diggs and a lack of a robust supporting cast; the team, in the Pro Bowler’s absence, has built a deep, versatile receiving rotation that Allen can distribute the ball to evenly, with the quarterback connecting with nine players in Week 1 serving as an indication of the viability of the offensive philosophy rather than a major problem.

In any case, Te’o is right when he suggests that previous confrontations will not make a difference. directly impact on Thursday night’s clash, despite the Bills’ recent dominance in the series. Miami will look to outplay its division rival, while Buffalo will look to continue its prowess when the two teams square off on Thursday night at 8:15 p.m.

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