Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel admits Bills still 'own the division'

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel recognized that the Buffalo Bills still "own" the AFC East ahead of their Week 2 clash.

Anthony Miller | Sep 12, 2024

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The Buffalo Bills have dominated the AFC East in the recent past, rattling off four straight division crowns. Their recent prowess against divisional foes was recently acknowledged by their Thursday night opponent.

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters that the division belongs to Buffalo until it doesn't during his Wednesday press conference, an idea he's using as motivation as his team prepares to host the Bills in a Week 2 Thursday Night Football clash.

“If you want to do anything in this league, generally you can’t skip over the much-mandated step of winning your division," McDaniel said. "And there’s one team that’s won the division consecutive years that you could say that they, by de facto, own the division until somebody takes it from them.

"I think it’s pretty obvious, but you know, I think it’s also something that they have earned, and we would like to be in a situation where we’ve earned the same thing and there’s one way to do that, beat your division opponents.”

Does the AFC East go through the Buffalo Bills? pic.twitter.com/UKC27pkQXH
— Omar Kelly (@OmarKelly) September 11, 2024

Buffalo's recent divisional dominance began in 2020 when the Bills won their first AFC East title since 1995. They have won three subsequent division crowns, tying a franchise-record four-straight AFC East wins. The Dolphins have finished second in the division in three of those four seasons.

It doesn’t help matters for Miami that Buffalo has owned the series since 2019. The Bills are a combined 10-1 versus the Dolphins (regular season plus playoffs) over the past five seasons, with six of those games being Buffalo wins by double digits.

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Both teams got off to good starts this season, with the Bills and Dolphins both pulling off come-from-behind victories in Week 1. Buffalo pulled out a 34-28 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, and Miami scored a last-second field goal to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 20-17.

Miami is favored by 2.5 points in this week's primetime contest. Recent history would back up McDaniel’s claim of the Bills owning the AFC East and Thursday night’s game could be the start of solidifying a fifth straight division title for Buffalo.

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