Five takeaways: Dolphins show fight but fall short to Bills 31-21
The Miami Dolphins showed more fight against the Buffalo Bills than they had the previous two weeks combined.
They ran the ball effectively. The defense made a few critical stops — though penalties ultimately did them in. And Tua Tagovailoa found both Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill for touchdowns.
Still, it wasn’t enough as the Dolphins lost their 10th straight — and potentially final — game to the Bills at Highmark Stadium 31-21 on Thursday night.
The Dolphins certainly had some positive moments, but 0-3 is the 0-3. This is the NFL — that’s simply not good enough.
To quote Jay-Z, moral victories are for minor league coaches.
“There’s momentum for sure knowing they’re one of the teams in the NFL that everybody is chasing right now and to be right there neck and neck — you don’t want any moral victories — but at the end of the day, we played solid football and it’s just about finishing,” edge rusher Bradley Chubb said.
RUNNING THE BALL = WINNING FORMULA
The Dolphins offense looks good – as long as they can run the ball.
On their two first-half scoring drives, it was key runs by tailback De’Von Achane and Ollie Gordon II that opened up space for Tagovailoa to even use his legs a bit.
Achane led all rushers with 12 carries for 62 yards, while Gordon added another 38 on nine tries. Tagovailoa himself picked up an additional 10 on two scrambles.
“I’m very proud of those guys in the run game,” Tua Tagovailoa said. “When [Hill and Waddle] are on the field, most likely we’re getting two high [safeties] so it helps when those guys are getting their shoulder in there to block the secondary for us.”
JOSH ALLEN IS A BAD, BAD MAN
The QB became the fastest in NFL history to reach the 300 career offensive touchdowns after a flick to rookie tight end Jackson Hawes in the second quarter.
Allen had just six incompletions en route to 213 yards passing and three touchdowns. He also carried the ball four times for another 25 yards.
“You’re very pumped when you’re able to get a stop,” coach Mike McDaniel said of Allen. “He makes you defend the entire field almost on every play because he can throw it as far as anybody, but you have to be very sound in your rush lanes otherwise he’ll run for it too. He’s a really good player.”
PASSING OFFENSE IS LACKLUSTER
4.2.
That’s how many yards per throw that Tagovailoa averaged.
To be nice, that’s downright awful. To be even more accurate, that’s not conducive to success in today’s NFL.
Granted, McDaniel does love to run his fair share of screens and Hill, who finished with five catches for 49 yards and a touchdown, dropped a deep ball. Still, it begs the question of what are these route concepts? Why have many of the downfield routes disappeared? Why does Tagovailoa consistently have to take the check down?
Still, Tagovailoa played smart and limited his turnovers – until the second to last drive of the game when he totally overlooked linebacker Terrel Bernard who stepped in front of his pass to Waddle. He finished with a measly 146 yards passing and completed 65% of his passes for two touchdowns as well as an interception.
DOLPHINS RUN DEFENSE NEEDS WORK
This is a problem.
For the third straight week, the Dolphins defense has let up more than 120 yards on the ground.
The Bills finished with 157 yards on 27 carries. Tailback James Cook got the ball 19 times, leading all rushers with 108 yards and a touchdown.
PENALTIES ARE A KILLER
Just think about if Zach Sieler hadn't gone for the punt block.
The Bills certainly don’t immediately go score to increase their lead to seven. The Dolphins get the ball back with the game tied. And maybe, just maybe, they score to put the pressure on the Bills.
Instead, Sieler receives a flag for roughing the kicker and the Bills get a first down on the Miami 36.
“The intent of the play was not to get Zach Sieler to block the punt,” McDaniel said, explaining that he just wanted his star defensive tackle to “bull rush the long snapper” to speed up the punter yet “he was a little too successful” and just tried to make a play. “I don’t need to say anything in the moment to make it worse. It’s not like I’m worried about him doing it again, but you’re as good as your leaders allow you to be in their own failures.”
That was one of the six penalties that the Dolphins incurred, exactly double that of the Bills. Those penalties cost the Dolphins 57 total yards.
This story was originally published September 18, 2025 at 11:29 PM.
