The Miami Dolphins are 3-0 and alone at the top of the AFC East after taking the Bills down to the wire and coming up big defensively.
Today’s game was one of the toughest games I have seen the Dolphins play in a very long time. Physical on both sides of the ball, Miami took advantage of the home field advantage and showed the Bills what it is like to play in South Florida.
The win snaps a seven-game losing streak to the Bills and puts Miami in a position they haven’t been in, in a very long time.
Tua Tagovailoa led the Dolphins’ offense toe-to-toe against Josh Allen matching him point for point when needed and then taking the lead to start the 4th. Miami wasn’t a scoring machine today and they didn’t get a lot of possessions or time to do their thing. The Bills were relentless on defense taking away Tua’s downfield options. For most of the game, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle were very quiet.
It was all Waddle on the final touchdown drive making two deep receptions that set up the eventual leading and now game-winning score.
While Miami’s offense was good enough to win, the defense was out of this world possessed.
As Buffalo lost player after player in the sweltering heat, the Dolphins defense stood their ground and while the Bills continued to impress with long drives of 18-plus plays and eat the clock, it was the Dolphins who pulled up the straps and won the game.
After Miami’s score with just under 10:00 minutes left in the game, the Bills drove to the two-yard line where they faced first and goal. They ate all but 2:00 minutes of the clock and Miami’s defense held on first and second downs and then forced two incomplete passes to give Miami the ball back. On the one.
Tua was unable to move the unit rushing to get some clearance. Three plays Miami didn’t move the ball and facing a short depth for a punt, Thomas Morstead’s attempt hit his up back and went out of bounds for a safety.
Miami punted the ball back to the Bills and it appeared that the Bills would be put in a position to win. The Dolphins held the Bills again allowing them only enough room to get close to field goal range but an open field tackle with less than 10 seconds to go saved the game as the Bills couldn’t get to the line of scrimmage and the clock ticked to zeroes.
The win puts Miami at 3-0 with a favorable schedule the next several weeks.