Dolphins drop to 1-7 on season after loss to Bills as Tuesday’s trade deadline looms
For much of Sunday afternoon, the Dolphins’ Week 8 road game against the Buffalo Bills resembled the matchup many were hoping for in Week 2, a competitive back-and-forth against a divisional rival that has dominated Miami in recent seasons.
But the same-old issues appeared for the Dolphins in a 26-11 defeat at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, dropping them to 1-7 on the season.
“It’s something different really every week,” coach Brian Flores said after Miami’s seventh consecutive loss to Buffalo. “I think it’s drops, not getting aligned, not having enough guys defensively — I know that happened one time. Just overall miscommunication.”
The latest loss casts an even larger cloud over the team with Tuesday’s trade deadline looming. ESPN reported early Sunday that the Houston Texans are prepared to keep embattled quarterback Deshaun Watson past the trade deadline. Miami is reportedly the only team Watson has waived his no-trade clause for but the Dolphins have yet to meet Houston’s asking price of three first-round picks and additional assets. Dolphins brass also reportedly has concerns over Watson’s unresolved legal issues. Watson has not played this season in the wake of 22 civil suits and 10 criminal complaints alleging sexual harassment and misconduct.
After the game, Flores fielded about as many questions about what holds for the team — and himself — following another loss tacked on to a disappointing season.
Flores, once again, reaffirmed Tua Tagovailoa, who threw for 205 yards, an interception and rushed for a touchdown, as the team’s starter. He wouldn’t divulge whether the organization has intentions to offload contracts — NFL Network reported wide receiver DeVante Parker as a player who has been in trade discussions — with the team seemingly closer to a top-five pick (if the Dolphins owned their 2022 first-rounder) than playoff contention.
Addressing the game, Flores again bemoaned a lack of execution, encapsulated in the offense’s final play of the first half.
The Dolphins had the ball at the Bills’ 12 with 24 seconds remaining and the score tied at 3. There was confusion regarding the pre-snap alignment, with tight end Mike Gesicki motioning for rookie wide receiver Jaylen Waddle to move from the left side of the formation to the right and then appearing to call off Flores, who mulled taking the team’s final timeout. With five seconds left on the play clock, Gesicki motioned to the left but the snap from center Austin Reiter was mistimed and the ball landed in the chest of Gesicki instead of the hands of Tagovailoa. The Bills recovered the ball with 11 seconds left and escaped with a tie game at halftime despite the Dolphins outplaying them through 30 minutes.
While the Dolphins began the second half with three straight punts, quarterback Josh Allen threw two touchdowns on consecutive drives to separate Buffalo (5-2) as a late rally from Miami fell short.
“Miscommunication with getting guys set and then obviously the game clock going down,” Tagovailoa said. “That was just bad football there. Bad operation.”
The oddity of that play was only matched by that of the order of postgame interviews. Flores, usually the first or second person to take questions from reporters after the game, was the last of seven who spoke — about 45 minutes after the start of interviews.
Asked whether he spoke to owner Stephen Ross and general manager Chris Grier, Flores said he spoke to both but added that he usually does so after games and Sunday was no different.
“Today I really just kind of sat there,” Flores said of what he did after the game. “Sitting there, it’s a tough loss, it’s a number of losses in a row so I just figured we’d let the players go.”
Asked whether he’s concerned about his job security, Flores answered: “I’m just worried about the players. I’m worried about the players. I’m worried about getting them better, helping them improve. So, no.”
The Dolphins will return home to play the Houston Texans (1-7), a week sure to revive questions about Miami’s interest in Watson with the trade deadline and the teams’ matchup separated by five days. However, any move the Dolphins could make would still have them facing an uphill battle just to return to .500, a frustrating reality for a team with playoffs aspirations entering the season.
“I thought the guys fought,” Flores said. “[The Bills are] a good team. I thought they fought. I thought they played hard. I thought they played with great effort. But we’ve got to make more plays. I think it’s things that we can definitely get fixed. A shift and a motion and an alignment error. Some other things that we missed in a game. Some missed alignments defensively as well. If we can do some of those things on a more consistent basis, it will definitely go a long way to have the results we want.”
This story was originally published October 31, 2021 at 4:18 PM.
