That was a lot closer than anyone could have predicted. The Buffalo Bills sent the Miami Dolphins packing back down to South Beach as they won 34-31 against their old foes, clinching their spot in the Divisional round.
That was the best possible iteration that game could have played out given all of the circumstances.
I, along with so many others, thought the Dolphins were toast going into the cold, windy Orchard Park, Buffalo as they not only were without starting QB Tua Tagovailoa, but they were also without backup QB Teddy Bridgewater and were starting rookie QB Skylar Thompson.
You know, the very same rookie QB that led the Dolphins to a 11-6 victory over the already-eliminated New York Jets behind a 20/31 completion and 152 passing yards performance.
Yeah, nothing to write epic poems or heroic tales about.
Still, that didn’t stop the Dolphins defense from getting off to a really fast start. Josh Allen didn’t know what hit him in the opening half as the Dolphins defense forced 3 TURNOVERS out of him, completely derailing the Bills offense early on and making this game a lot closer than it should have been.
Guys like Christian Wilkins (4 tackles, 1 sack, 2 QB hits), Jevon Holland (10 tackles, 2 PD, 1 INT), Jaelan Philips (9 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 2 TFL, 3 QB hits), Eric Rowe (7 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL), Xavien Howard (3 tackles, 2 PD, 1 INT), Zach Sieler (6 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 TFL, 4 QB hits, 1 FF, 1 FR, 1 DEF TD), and Bradley Chubb (1 tackle, 1 sack) were the only reason why the Dolphins had a sliver of a chance as they were getting after Allen and the Bills running game like it was a tray of bacon on Christmas morning.
In total, the Dolphins defense racked up 70 tackles, 7 sacks, 5 TFL, 6 PD, 13 QB hits, 2 INTs, 1 FF, 1 FR, kept the Bills to just 107 rushing yards (that’s an impressive feat for a team with Josh Allen as QB), and scored the first TD of the second half with Sieler’s scoop and score. Yes, Josh Allen eventually woke up and torched them with 23/39 completions for 352 yards, 3 TDs, and 2 INTs, but they can be proud of their effort.
The Dolphins would have lost by 50 instead of 3 if they didn’t play as well as they did.
Speaking of Josh Allen, he really is one of the two best quarterbacks in the NFL, isn’t he?
Despite looking like Ryan Leaf in the first half with some of his decisions, Allen was lethal in the second with huge throws to Stefon Diggs (7 REC, 114 yards), Gabe Davis (6 REC, 113 yards, 1 TD), Khalil Shakir (3 REC, 51 yards) as each receiver caught at least 3 balls for 50+ yards, which was the sole reason why they overcame their slump to pick up 423 total scrimmage yards and score 34 points on a really solid Miami defense.
Yes, it’s a little concerning how an injury-battered Dolphins team was almost able to upset them in their own home stadium, but that might just be down to first-game playoff jitters and divisional competitiveness. In hindsight, I was definitely wrong predicting this game as a blowout as I undersold how competitive the Dolphins would play their archrivals in their own stadium, even though Miami was missing its quarterbacks.
As for the Bills defense, they go the job done when it mattered.
Keeping both Tyreek Hill (7 REC, 69 yards) and Jaylen Waddle (3 REC, 44 yards) to under 70 receiving yards is very impressive, though they were obviously without Tua throwing them the ball.
The Bills frontline of Ed Oliver (3 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 3 QB hits), Boogie Basham (5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, 2 QB hits), Shaq Lawson (2 tackles 1 TFL, 1 QB hit), and Greg Rousseau (1 tackle) and the linebacker core of Matt Milano (10 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 TFL, 3 QB hits) and Tremaine Edmunds (5 tackles, 1 TFL, 4 PD) were immense in stopping the run and getting at Skylar Thompson (18/45, 22 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs) as they only gave up 42 rushing yards, they racked up 4 sacks, 7 TFL, and 11 QB hits.
And that was key as that forced Thompson to have to win the game on his own, which he was unable to do in the end.
So, with the Bills now guaranteed one more home playoff game against either the Ravens or the Bengals, it’ll be interesting to see if these playoff jitters (if that’s what we saw today was) will be corrected next week or else I see yet another early Buffalo playoff disaster heading out way.
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