Two plays.
That was the difference Thursday night. The Miami Dolphins played Buffalo tight, but lost 31-21 in part because of two fourth-quarter blunders.
Here are 10 thoughts on the game:
1. Play of the night: Down 28-21, on first and 10 at the Buffalo 21, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa doesn’t see Buffalo linebacker Tyrell Bernard and threw an interception over the middle right to him. “It was a play we saw on tape,” Bernard said on Amazon after the game. Buffalo took over at its 41 with three minutes left to play. On the night, Tua completed 22 of 34 passes for 146 yards, two touchdowns and the crucial interception.
2. Penalty of the night: In a tie game, on fourth-and-7 at the Buffalo 49, after the Dolphins defense made Buffalo punt for the third straight possession, Zach Sieler ran into Buffalo punter Cameron Johnston for a roughing penalty in the fourth quarter. Buffalo got first down at the Dolphins 36. Josh Allen scored on a 15-yard pass to Kalil Shakir to give Buffalo a 28-21 lead.
3. Stat of the night: Of the 165 teams to start 0-3 since 1990, only four have made the playoffs. Two won their division, which might strain hope at this point considering Buffalo is 3-0 and the Dolphins are 0-3.
4. Josh Allen didn’t seem the dominant player he usually against the Dolphins. But look at the numbers: 22 of 28 for 213 yards and three touchdowns. When he threw to Dalton Kincaid for a 20-yard touchdown on the opening drive, it was his record 43 touchdown pass against the Dolphins in 15 games. That’s more than his combined total against AFC East brethren New England and the New York Jets. The quarterback Allen passed? Dan Marino, who had 42 in the first 15 games against the Jets.
5. Through three games, this Dolphins defense doesn’t have a turnover and only showed signs of life in Thursday’s second half by causing three straight Buffalo punts. That’s the part you embrace if you’re the Dolphins. But like Indianapolis and New England, Buffalo started strong with a drives that went: touchdown, touchdown, missed 39-yard field goal, touchdown. Now that they’ve had a good, second-half stretch they’ve got to start better.
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6. Bradley Chubb had a sack of Josh Allen to stop a Buffalo second-quarter drive that became a missed field-goal attempt. One of the questions about Chubb was how he’d return from injury that kept him out all of 2024. On a defense looking for players to make some game-tilting plays, Chubb has done his part with the pass rush. That was his third sack of the season.
7. Mike McDaniel didn’t abandon the run game this time in a manner to lament like the previous two games. On the Dolphins opening drive for a touchdown, the Dolphins ran the ball six times for 20 yards and passed four times for 27. Good balance. Good production. On the next two, three-and-out drives, they ran just once and the question was if they would abandon the run. But getting the ball back with six minutes before half, they went back to mixing in the run. On a 16-play drive, they ran seven times for 35 yards and passed seven times for 36 yards. For the night, they ran a healthy 25 times for 130 yards against Tua’s 22 passes.
8. The Dolphins were 10-of-15 on third downs. On that 16-play, 71-yard drive before half that tied it at 14-14, they converted five, third-down conversions that showed this good balance of options:
*Third-and-1 at Miami 38: Gordon 4 run;
*Third-and-12 at Miami 40: Tua to Hill for 19 yards;
*Third-and-10 at Buffalo 41: Tua to Hill for 13 yard;
*Third-and-7 at Buffalo 25: Tua 8-yard run;
*Third-and-3 at Buffalo 10: Tua to Hill for 7 yards.
9. Quick Hits:
*Jayen Waddle made some big catches including a touchdown and three first downs in his five for 39 yards.
Rookie fifth-round pick Jordan Phillips started at defensive tackle over first-round pick Kenneth Grant. Phillips had 40 snaps last week against New England to Grant’s 37.
*Rookie cornerback Jason Marshall Jr., limped into the locker room in the second quarter.
*Daniel Brunskill replaced Kion Smith at guard in the third quarter.
*I’d rather have listened to former Bills/Dolphin quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick announce this game on Amazon than Kirk Herbstreit. Fitzpatrick is part of the pregame show and made a cameo in the booth.
10. Next week: New York Jets (0-2) at Dolphins. A matchup to decide the bottom of the AFC East. The Jets are rebuilding with Aaron Glenn, who became a Pro Bowl cornerback after making Dolphin history as the Jets cornerback who Dan Marino attacked on the infamous Clock Play (“Go for the rookie,” Bernie Kosar told Marino, and Glenn was the rookie. One question will be if quarterback Justin Fields, who is out this Sunday with a concussion, is ready to play. Tyrod Taylor is the backup.
