The Sports Wire

Bills at Dolphins

Prediction updated
Bills at Dolphins · Week 17 · Sun, Jan 3 · 12:00 PM CT · CBS

Our call: BillsLean

4 of 4 models favor the Bills.

On average the models have the Bills by 6.9 points, a 71% win chance.

Early prediction, updates weekly until kickoff.

Data through Week 5's games (the last played Mon, Oct 12), from nflverse play-by-play; nflverse last published it .

Buffalo Bills (4–1) at Miami Dolphins (0–5) Sun, Jan 3, 2027 Kickoff 12:00 PM CT on CBS Miami

TV listings: ESPN

Every model

ModelSaysWin chance
Consensus (our call)The average of Our model, Elo, SRS and ESPN FPI (whichever are there); the market is left out. This is our call.Bills by 6.971%
Our model ExperimentalOur ratings from nflverse play-by-play: opponent-adjusted EPA per play, home field and the starting quarterback, frozen on the 2024 season and tested once on 2025. Experimental.Bills by 5.567%
EloEvery team's Elo rating from every game since 1999 (FiveThirtyEight's method).Bills by 9.379%
SRSSimple Rating System: points scored minus allowed, adjusted for the schedule, blended with last season early on. Settings chosen by hand, not tuned.Bills by 5.766%
ESPN FPIESPN's Football Power Index matchup predictor, read from ESPN before kickoff. Read in the week of the game.Available game week—
RecordThe team with the better record this season; equal records go to the home team. A winner only.Bills—

Our model is experimental. Season so far (79 games, Weeks 1–4 reconstructed): it missed the final margin by 9.8 points on average, the market's margin by 9.8; ours was closer in 38 of 79. Scorecard →

Numbers to know

Starting quarterbacks

Not named yet. The quarterbacks we assume show here in game week: once every earlier game is in, or two days before Week 17's first kickoff.

Injuries

The official Week 17 injury report isn't out yet. It shows here once nflverse has it, in the week of the game.

Latest news

Buffalo Bills

More Bills news →

Miami Dolphins

More Dolphins news →

Headlines and a line or two from each outlet's own feed, linked to the original; the stories are theirs, not ours.

Matchup

Opponent-adjusted, from nflverse play-by-play, through Week 5 (the games played so far); league rank in brackets.

BillsDolphins
Net EPA per play+0.06 (9th)−0.11 (30th)
Offense, EPA per play+0.17 (1st)−0.06 (28th)
Defense, EPA per play allowed (lower is better)+0.11 (31st)+0.05 (24th)
Passing offense, EPA per dropback+0.28 (2nd)−0.05 (27th)
Rushing offense, EPA per run+0.01 (4th)−0.07 (17th)
Offense success rate48% (2nd)40% (30th)

Last 5 meetings

The Bills won 4 of the last 5 meetings.

Nov 9, 2025Week 10, 2025Dolphins 30, Bills 13at Miami
Sep 18, 2025Week 3, 2025Bills 31, Dolphins 21at Buffalo
Nov 3, 2024Week 9, 2024Bills 30, Dolphins 27at Buffalo
Sep 12, 2024Week 2, 2024Bills 31, Dolphins 10at Miami
Jan 7, 2024Week 18, 2023Bills 21, Dolphins 14at Miami