The Phinsider
The Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills met for the second time this year, finishing their annual home-and-home series between the two AFC East rivals. Buffalo won the first meeting back in Week 3, continuing a streak of dominating the Dolphins in seven-straight wins.
But it was the Dolphins who came out dominating on Sunday. Despite starting the game with an interception, Miami controlled the game for all 60 minutes, scoring first and scoring often as the routed the Bills.
Buffalo never looked comfortable in the game, with Miami’s defense forcing three turnovers and sacking quarterback Josh Allen three times. The Dolphins smacked their rivals in the mouth and the Bills, who have won the AFC East each of the last five seasons, did not have an answer on Sunday.
Bills 13 – 30 Dolphins
The Dolphins won the toss and elected to receive, putting the offense on the field first. On the opening snap, the Bills appeared to jump offsides, but the referees somehow decided that fullback Alec Ingold, who was going in motion, had somehow false-started instead. The call was so bad, head coach Mike McDaniel called a timeout just to have more time to yell at the refs. Backed up, Miami was limited to a one-yard pass to wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, then a three-yard pass to running back De’Von Achane. On 3rd-and-11, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa took a deep shot toward Waddle, but threw it into double coverage the pass was intercepted.
How was Ingold called for a false start by going in motion? That call made absolutely no sense and the Dolphins offense could not respond from that. Tagovailoa should not have thrown that deep pass – it worked as a punt essentially, but the decision to chuck the ball into coverage was not the right one, even on a 3rd-and-11 desperation pass.
The Bills opened with an incomplete pass before quarterback Josh Allen completed a pass to running back James Cook for eight yards. Cook was limited to one yard on the third-down rush attempt, leading to a three-and-out punt for Buffalo.
That marked the first opening possession punt of the season for Buffalo. The defense responded well after the interception – and, again, it was basically a punt, starting Buffalo back at their 25-yard line. Fortunately, the turnover caused no harm.
Miami started the drive at the eight-yard line after a beautiful punt from Buffalo. Achane, running back Jaylen Wright, and fullback Alec Ingold made an impact on the possession, with Achane gaining 37 yards on the ground, Wright adding three yards, and Ingold picking up a first down on a 3rd-and-1 run for six yards. Tagovailoa was sharp in the passing game as well, finding Achane for 15 yards and wide receiver Malik Washington for 13 yards, including a nine yard touchdown.
*Great second drive for Miami. They were effective with the...
