NFL Heat Check
Team Heat Check: Buffalo Bills Run Hot, Miami Dolphins Run Cold (NFL)
Published
Every NFL season has a week when the temperature map redraws itself, and this feels like one of them. Buffalo Bills have become the team nobody wants to see next on the schedule, while Miami Dolphins are hunting for anything that resembles a good night.
Burning up
Nobody is playing better than Buffalo Bills right now. The record says 6-0 over their last 6; the points column says even more, a +63 margin that works out to 31.5 scored and 21.0 allowed a night.
The chase belongs to Baltimore Ravens, who have gone 5-1 with a +79 margin of their own.
Keep San Francisco 49ers in the conversation too, at 5-1 over their last 6.
Some context helps: across every club in the sample, scoring sits at 20.6 points per game right now. Buffalo Bills are beating the league's own pace by 10.9 a game.
The deep freeze
At the bottom of the temperature map sit Miami Dolphins: 0-6 in their last 6, -91 on points margin. That is about 15.2 a game in the wrong direction, and no lineup shuffle fixes it overnight.
They have company at the cold end: Houston Texans, 0-6 over the same window.
The middle of the table is where the real congestion lives: Atlanta Falcons (3-3) and Pittsburgh Steelers (3-3) are separated by almost nothing, and one good weekend reshuffles the whole neighborhood.
By the numbers
The top of the ledger, at a glance:
| Team | Last 10 | Points +/- |
|---|---|---|
| Buffalo Bills | 6-0 (6 gm) | +63 |
| Baltimore Ravens | 5-1 (6 gm) | +79 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 5-1 (6 gm) | +72 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 5-1 (6 gm) | +54 |
| Los Angeles Rams | 4-1 (5 gm) | +46 |
One more thing
One reading tip before you go: points margin travels better than record. A fat margin with a modest record usually means the wins are coming; the reverse usually means they are not.