It certainly wasn't the season opener that many Buffalo Bills fans had expected from this group in 2021.
After all the hype and the banter surrounding the Bills heading into this past Sunday's Week 1 opener in Orchard Park, Buffalo squandered a 10-0 halftime lead against the Pittsburgh Steelers and dropped a 23-16 decision at Highmark Stadium.
While the Bills looked solid defensively in the first half and the offense managed to get a receiving touchdown from wide receiver Gabriel Davis at the end of the second quarter, the Steelers made the proper adjustments at halftime and managed to come back with 20 unanswered points and take a fourth quarter lead. After the Steelers blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown with 9:45 remaining in the game, the contest seemed out of reach for the Bills.
Although Josh Allen and the Buffalo offense did not have a good day against a stout Steelers defense on Sunday, the Bills will get a chance to bounce back this upcoming Sunday in South Florida when they're welcomed to town by the Miami Dolphins.
Leading up to Sunday's AFC East battle, Allen has played some of his best football against the Dolphins in his first three years in the NFL. Through six starts against Miami, Allen has gone 5-1, while completing a little more than 64% of his passes for 1,552 yards and 17 touchdowns to four interceptions.
Just last season, Allen dominated the Dolphins in two games, throwing for 639 combined yards and seven touchdowns. All of that came within a span of six quarters of action, with the 25-year-old taking a seat after halftime of the Week 17 finale in Orchard Park.
Allen will need a solid bounce back performance this week after struggling against the Steelers in Week 1. He finished Sunday's performance completing just 30 of 51 pass attempts for 270 yards, while also getting sacked three times and fumbling the football twice.
Meanwhile, the Dolphins will look to improve to 2-0 in the early portion of the 2021 season after earning a 17-16 win over the New England Patriots this past Sunday in Foxboro.
Despite missing on his Week 1 pick of the Bills, Howard Simon was not too phased by Buffalo's loss to the Steelers. Not only does Howard hold firm on his belief the Bills will beat the Dolphins in Miami this week, but he still picks Buffalo to win 12 games and remain as a top team in the AFC in 2021.
Be sure to follow along on Twitter for the latest picks from Howard by using the hashtag #HowardPicksTheBills. You can also track all of Howard's picks throughout the season with Brayton Wilson's picks tracker on Twitter: @BJWilsonWGR.
You can listen to the latest edition of "Howard Picks the Bills," and also check out our Facebook Live video below:
