MIAMI GARDENS — Just when you thought nothing went as expected for the Miami Dolphins this season, they had a Sunday where — well, nothing went as expected.
Here are 10 thoughts on the win:
1. Sequence of the day: Buffalo’s Josh Allen tried a deep pass on fourth-and-1 from its 49 late in the first quarter, but Minkah Fitzpatrick out-bodied tight end Jackson Hawes on a jump ball to force an incompletion. It was Dolphins ball and, three plays later on the first play of the second quarter, Tua Tagovailoa threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle for a 13-0 lead.
2. Stat of the day: 13 Buffalo points. Buffalo average 32.9 points a game on its seven-game win streak against the Dolphins that ended Sunday. That 13 points doesn’t tell how well the Dolphins defense played considering Buffalo got its second touchdown with 3:36 left in the game when trailing 24-6. The Dolphins defense has been a problem spot this year, but it had three takeaways, three sacks, held Buffalo to five-of-15 on third-down conversions and shut out Buffalo in the first half.
3. De’Von Achane is the team MVP, and there’s not a close second right now. The latest evidence was his 22 carries for 174 yards on Sunday, including 59- and 35-yard touchdown runs in the fourth quarter. That’s a 7.9-yard average. It helped that coach Mike McDaniel stuck with the run from the start, running on nine of 12 plays against Buffalo on their 92-yard drive to open the scoring. Achane had runs of 15, 9 and a 3-yarder for a first down on that drive. He also had five catches for 51 yards to give him 225 total yards on the day (second-highest of his career). Achane entered the day as the seventh-leading rusher in the league and now has 780 yards rushing.
3. Buffalo entered Sunday with the best rushing offense (161.5 yds per game) and the Dolphins entered with the 30th ranked rushing defense (145. 6 yards allowed). So, just as expected in this wacky season, the Dolphins defense dominated even after trading a top lineman in Jaelan Phillips. Buffalo ended with 84 yards rushing on 21 carries, but that doesn’t tell the story. It had 23 yards at half. This Dolphins defense gave up 206 yards to Carolina’s back-up running back Nico Dowdle and 124 yards to Chargers’ third-stringer Kimani Vidal held James Cook to 53 yards on 13 carries.
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4. Jaylen Waddle had seven catches for 84 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown Sunday – and he did it for the Dolphins. Buffalo reportedly offered a 2027 first- and 2026 third-round pick for Waddle at the traded deadline on Tuesday, according to the NFL Network. The Dolphins had to decline. Why? In order: a top, in-division rival, a 2027 first -round pick and Waddle is signed at a comfortable salary-cap number ($11 million for 2026). Finally, more teams should be interested if the Dolphins want to trade Waddle in the off-season, and the new regime will be in place. Assuming there is a new regime.
5. You did see why Buffalo wanted to to trade for Waddle. Their wide receivers aren’t just unproductive but there’s no speed element to even stretch the defense and open areas. The Dolphins were without their top cornerback in Rasul Douglas. JuJu Brents, signed in August, started in his place. When Brents went out, Ethan Bonner came in. And while Bonner gave up a touchdown, the Bills’ lack of downfield playmakers shows just how limited this team can look. It also meant …
6. … Dolphins-killer Josh Allen had his worst game against them of his career. He completed 28 passes for 306 yards with two touchdowns and two turnovers. He’s now 14-3 against them in the equivalent of an NFL seasons where he’s thrown 45 touchdowns (Joe Burrow led the league with 43 TD passes in 2024). Sunday was unlike anything Allen has seen against the Dolphins considering his two previous losses came on final-play incompletions in the end zone. He was down 16-0 at halftime in this one. He then willed the Bills on a long drive in the third quarter, but it ended with safety Ifeatu Melifonwu intercepting him in the end zone. Then, as Allen rumbled 15 yards downfield after a tush-push run in the fourth quarter, he fumbled and Minkah Fitzpatrick recovered it. Allen is a one-man band for Buffalo. When he isn’t carrying this team, it has no chance as Sunday showed.
7. Tua Tagovailoa was asked this week about being benched (won’t happen) or released after this year (probably won’t happen). But after a bad, jump-ball interception on the first series, he delivered what the day asked in completing 15 of 21 passes for 173 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The two TD passes opening the scoring to set the tone of the day. The first was a threaded, 9-yard pass to Malik Washington in the first quarter. The second touchdown pass, as previously mentioned, was the 38-yarder to Waddle.
8. It was such a good first for the Dolphins it seems inconsequential to quibble. But … what’s up with the time-out issues? This slides into the ongoing operational issues they’ve had this year. They used their first time-out before the first play from scrimmage. A second hadn’t run off in the game. That came after an illegal procedure penalty somehow was called o fullback Alec Ingold. But a time-out? They used their third timeout with more than nine minutes left in the half. That came when Buffalo was going for it on fourth-and-1, linebacker Willie Gay stood on the field with an am-I-in-or-out look and McDaniel turned to the ref and called time-out. The second time-out also came in the first quarter before a fourth-and-1 by Buffalo.
9. Quick Hits:
The Dolphins’ 16-0 lead at half was Buffalo’s biggest deficit this season.
Zach Sieler had his first sack of the year.
The Dolphins’ Bradly Chubb was penalized for taunting in the fourth quarter. Taunting?
Dolphins had a false start and took a timeout before running their first play.
10. Next week: Dolphins vs. Washington in Madrid. What looked like a great game to export a couple of month ago is decidedly different now. Washington went to the NFC Championship Game last year, but was 3-6 and on a 4-game losing streak entering Sunday’s game against Detroit. Quarterback Jayden Daniels is out for the season. Its defense ranks 20th in points allowed. So, again, this wasn’t the game it was hoped to be. B
