Dolphins have no answer for Josh Allen, blown out by Bills on road for first loss of season
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel has often offered caution about the week-to-week nature of the NFL. What presents itself in one game may not necessarily hold up in another. Points scored in one game, no matter how great or how little, can’t be carried over into the next.
For Miami, Week 3 showed a team capable of fielding a unit as dangerous as any in the league. Just seven days later, the Dolphins saw how much work lies ahead for them.
After a historic offensive performance and 50-point win last week, the Dolphins were on the wrong end of a lopsided margin, losing to the Buffalo Bills, 48-20, at Highmark Stadium on Sunday.
Miami was looking to start 4-0 for the first time since 1995 and do so against a division opponent that stands firmly in their way of being an AFC contender. But instead of establishing a comfortable division lead, the Dolphins saw their first loss of the season come in blowout fashion on the road.
The two teams traded a pair of touchdowns to open the game, as a 10-yard run from rookie running back De’Von Achane (120 total yards, two touchdowns), tied the game at 14 with 12:47 left in the second quarter.
But after the score, the Bills (3-1) thoroughly outclassed the Dolphins (31), outscoring them 34-6 to take over as the first-place team in the AFC East.
“I think the Buffalo Bills proved why they are the team that our whole division is trying to beat,” McDaniel said after the game.
The avalanche began with 17 unanswered points by the Bills to end the first half. As Buffalo, whose high-powered offense ranked second in points only to Miami’s entering Sunday, continued to roll, the Dolphins’ sputtered along with a defense that had no answer for quarterback Josh Allen (337 total yards, five touchdowns) and wide receiver Stefon Diggs (six catches, 120 yards, three touchdowns).
Excluding the end-of-half kneel downs, the Bills scored on eight of 10 possessions. After Miami’s two touchdown drives to start the game, the team only reached the end zone once on the next nine drives, with the final three ending with a turnover on downs.
“There are natural curves of learning as you install any system,” McDaniel said of the new-look defense led by coordinator Vic Fangio. “However, there is nothing to be justified with the point differential for our team.”
Allen found Diggs for an 11-yard touchdown to retake a 21-14 lead and after the Dolphins’ first punt of the game, Allen connected again with Diggs, who broke free from cornerback Kader Kohou and safety Brandon Jones, for a 55-yard catch-and-run score. Buffalo added another field goal before halftime after running back Raheem Mostert’s fumble was recovered by linebacker Terrell Bernard in Dolphins territory.
The Dolphins ended the scoring run with a 75-yard touchdown drive to open the second half. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (25 of 35, 282 yards, one touchdown, one interception) connected on an 11-yard pass to wide receiver Braxton Berrios. Miami trailed 31-20 after a failed two-point conversion attempt.
But after Miami’s defense forced a rare punt, one of two for Buffalo, Tagovailoa was intercepted by safety Micah Hyde while trying to force a pass to wide receiver Robbie Chosen. The Bills converted the takeaway into another touchdown pass to Diggs, his third of the day, taking a 38-20 lead.
Two of Diggs’ scores came with Kohou in coverage as the Dolphins opted against shadowing the All-Pro with corner Xavien Howard.
Trailing 41-20, the Dolphins had an opportunity to bring their deficit to two scores with the third quarter coming to an end. But Berrios was ruled short after stretching for the first-down marker along the sideline. McDaniel challenged the call but it was upheld. Facing fourth-and-1 from Buffalo’s 47-yard line, Tagovailoa was sacked, turning the ball over on downs. Two plays later, Allen scored his fifth touchdown on an 11-yard designed run.
Issues from last year, which appeared to be corrected in the first three games of the season, resurfaced in the specter of a raucous crowd at Highmark Stadium.
After setting a franchise record with 70 points, the Dolphins’ offense struggled against a Buffalo defense that has been arguably the best in the first month of the unit. Wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle were limited to 58 and 46 receiving yards, respectively. And a running game that broke out for 350 yards in Week 3 was bottled up for much of the game, save for Achane’s 55-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
“I think they just do a really good job playing the things that they play, and they play really well,” Tagovailoa said. “They pressured on the early downs in the earlier drives of the game, and then they kind of got their flow of the game. Then they started to just play what they play — play coverage, read their run fits, read their run keys and things like that. I think they’ve done a great job on that side of the ball in mitigating big plays for us offensively.”
Tagovailoa entered the game being sacked only once but was brought down four times. The offense was beset by a number of pre-snap penalties, which McDaniel characterized as “self-inflicted wounds.”. Tagovailoa accepted blame for communication issues but McDaniel said the problems were not limited to the quarterback.
“Tua’s teammates need to know the ins and outs of their responsibilities, and Tua can’t be in charge of getting everyone aligned,” McDaniel said.
The unit’s struggles were compounded by the loss of starting left tackle Terron Armstead, who injured his knee in the second quarter and did not return. Starting center Connor Williams also did not play because of a groin injury. His absence left third-year player Liam Eichenberg to make his first career start against one of the best defensive lines in the NFL.
The Dolphins were the talk of the NFL after their dominant dismantling of the Denver Broncos. Both McDaniel and Tagovailoa said the team had quickly moved its attention to the Bills after a game full of plaudits. And as McDaniel said, if anyone was feeling cocky from the past win, “I think the lesson has been learned quite literally.”
“It’s very good, because I would say it’s also very humbling for a lot of people to be able to have the highest high and then you lose in a manner like this, it’s very humbling,” Tagovailoa said. “For some, it’s much needed.”
Faced with a loss to an opponent that Miami will surely see again — first in Week 18 and possibly in the playoffs — the team was left to ponder much.
How could an offense that was off to a historic start look so rattled seven days later?
Where is the source of improvement for a revamped defense that entered the season with high expectations?
Maybe most important is how the Dolphins will get past a Bills team that has won the division for three consecutive years and, after a thorough loss, they’ve lost to in 10 of the last 11 meetings, including the postseason.
Miami won’t get the opportunity to make amends for the defeat until the final game of the regular season when playoff positioning could be at stake at Hard Rock Stadium. So for now, they’ll have to turn their focus to hosting the New York Giants and ensuring they’re a team capable of meeting that challenge in three months.
“It’s tough when you lose and you lose like this, but we’re not going to blink,” Tagovailoa said. “We’re going to continue to do what we do. We’re going to go back in. We’re going to work on the things that need to be worked fixed and need to be corrected. I can promise you one thing, we’ll definitely be better from this.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2023 at 4:15 PM.
