On opening day in the National Football League, the Miami Dolphins beat the New England Patriots in Foxboro and the Buffalo Bills were upset at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In second week action, the Bills met the Dolphins in Miami. In an unusual twist, the team that won their first game was getting points on their home field against the team that lost.

For good reason.

The Dolphins have a lot of pieces to a winning puzzle, but they are misfiring more often than connecting and have not won since that opening triumph in Foxboro. Their six straight losses include ending the Jacksonville Jaguars 20 game losing streak two weeks ago with a setback in London, 20-23.

The Bills 35-0 road win as a favorite in second week action flew in the face of some basic handicapping principals. The Dolphins were a home team underdog off a win against a visiting favorite that lost the prior week. That set of circumstances would typically favor the underdog.

But there were unique factors in this second week matchup that ran counter to conflicting fundamentals. The Dolphins win in Foxboro could more accurately be seen as Miami being on the field when the Patriots lost the game.

This week, with most of the Dolphins defeats landing in single digits, it could be considered a bargain to be getting nearly two touchdowns on the point spread. The 13½ point line clearly fishing for Miami money.

This would be a great spot for the Dolphins to beat a superior team that began their losing run six weeks ago.

Problem with the Dolphins is they get the Bills not on a winning streak but a rare loss. The Bills have lost two games this year and each defeat has been followed by a contest against the Dolphins.

Once again we have a formula that does not point to the typical point spread winner.

To take the Bills, we would have to take a favorite against a division rival in a revenge mode. The Dolphins motivated by the fear of failure driven by their 35-0 early season thrashing and six straight losses.

The generous point spread would normally make the underdog a solid choice when the favorite was coming off a loss. But, Miami is not meeting a Bills team likely to lose too often, and they have bigger fish to fry than the Dolphins.

This is just the way the season has gone for Miami. They don’t catch Buffalo on a winning streak, say if they had beaten the Titans last Monday night in Tennessee. If they would have won their last game, then Buffalo would be coming into this contest on a winning streak that started with their 35-0 blowout victory over this week’s opponent.

If that were the case, then this is where the Bills would have lost their second game of the season. But that is not the case, the Bills were stopped inches short two weeks ago and have had two weeks to prepare for this contest.

The Bills upset loss has already occurred, this is where they get back to dominating.

Qoxhi Picks: Buffalo Bills (-13½) over Miami Dolphins