Buffalo Bills 35, Miami Dolphins 0: Quick Recap & Ratings

The Buffalo Bills expressed a lot of frustration over their favorite target, the Miami Dolphins, intimidating them into submitting in a 35-0 win. Last week’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers left a bitter taste in Buffalo, and the Bills responded exactly as they should against their division rivals.

The game couldn’t have started better for the Bills. In Miami’s first practice, the Bills sacked Tua Tagovailoa twice to force a three and one out. Isaiah McKenzie returned the 20-yard punt over Miami territory. Two plays later, Devin Singletary broke free for a 46-yard touchdown run.

In Miami’s next practice, the Dolphins were held in 4th and 2nd, and Tagovailoa received a brutal blow from AJ Epenesa while throwing an incomplete pass. It hurt his ribs and put him out of play. The Bills followed that up with a 52-yard drive in seven games. Pocket-rinsed Josh Allen returned his body to a wide-open Stefon Diggs for another touchdown.

From there, the Miami defense caught up with Buffalo’s defensive performance. The drive table for the rest of the half-time:

• Miami – three and out
• Buffalo – Zack Moss escaped, recovered by defense
• Miami – Jacoby Brissett intercepted by Levi Wallace
• Buffalo – three and out
• Miami – Jakeem Grant escaped, recovered by the defense
• Buffalo – Josh Allen intercepted by Xavien Howard
• Miami – four and up, turnover on the lows
• Buffalo – three and out
• Miami – intentional grounding takes them out of reach of the basket, forcing a punt
• Buffalo – three and out
• Miami – missed the punt, recovered by Buffalo
• Buffalo – three and out, and failed basket

Yes, it was shaping up to be one of the best defensive showdowns of the year. The Bills had a 14-point lead at halftime, but they knew all too well how a two-point lead could be erased, as witnessed last week against the Steelers. So it was reassuring when they came out of the locker room and Josh Allen hit a touchdown. He was six of seven for 56 yards on the drive, eventually finishing with an eight-yard pass to Dawson Knox in the back of the end zone. With a 21-0 lead, the Bills could breathe a bit.

The Dolphins weren’t able to come up with their own offensive response in the next practice, gaining 16 yards on five plays and puntings. A penalty pushed the Bills further into the field, but they kicked back on their next practice. Miami got into a fight again on their next move. They won a first down and tried to go in the fourth and second, but the attempt was stifled by Taron Johnson.

This meant the Bills had the ball and a little ground remaining, which gave them a little more confidence in their offense. Allen and Zack Moss mixed up on the next possession, which crossed the rest of the field and finished with Moss making a punishing seven-yard touchdown run.

The Bills were now leading 28-0 at the start of the fourth quarter. But their defense was not taking a break. They sacked Jacoby Brissett twice in the next practice to force another punt. Allen started his practice with a reverse pass, but Stefon Diggs adjusted perfectly for a 41-yard catch. The Bills pushed their way to the edge of the end zone and Moss won the physics battle to score a one-yard touchdown and extend the lead even further.

The Bills have rotated their reserve defenders at this point, which gave Miami one more chance to try to score points. They brought the ball to the red zone on a 12-game drive, but on 4th base Jacoby Brissett’s pass was abandoned by Salvon Ahmed, saving the shutout.

With the win, the Bills tied the divisional standings at 1-1, dropping the Dolphins to 1-1. They are back on track for the remainder of their season, although their offense still hasn’t returned to its 2020 form.

Injury report

• Not related to Bills, but Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa suffered a rib injury on a sack from AJ Epenesa in the first quarter and did not return to the game. This is a big blow to the Dolphins’ plan.
• Levi Wallace cramped his right leg early in the second quarter and limped off the field with coaches. The Bills said he was likely to return because it was a cramp – it’s over 90 degrees and wet in Miami today.
• The heat hit another Bills defenseman. Tremaine Edmunds couldn’t get out of the locker room after half-time as he was still receiving an IV to replenish his fluids. AJ Klein has replaced him in the meantime.

Quick shots

• Last year, Devin Singletary had just one game gain of over 40 yards, and that didn’t happen until mid-December, when he won against the Broncos. This year, he landed a 46-yard touchdown on his first postponement of Week 2.
• Although Singletary was the starter, the Bills built Zack Moss into the game plan in the first quarter, giving him two carries and one assist in a row. But Moss fumbled his grip, handing it over to the defense. The Bills didn’t give up on Moss, bringing him back to short courts and goal line appearances later in the game.
• Levi Wallace broke a manual pass in the first quarter, but his celebration was too much for the referees, who tied him 15 yards for taunting the receiver. He caught up two games later, intercepting Jacoby Brissett’s pass to kill the drive.
• Dane Jackson replaced a cramped Wallace late in the second quarter, and while the Dolphins haven’t tested him for cover, he made a huge play stopping a fourth down run in the red zone. The Dolphins could have had three runs or extended a drive for a touchdown, but instead they got nothing.
• Tyler Bass’s run for a franchise record has narrowly fallen. Aiming for a field goal that would have tied him to Rian Lindell for the most consecutive goals (regular season), Bass’s 53-yard attempt was not near. His streak ends at 17.
• Josh Allen hit 10,000 career passing yards today in his 45th career game. As the team announced, it was in the same game that Jim Kelly passed his ten-thousandth passing yards.
• Taron Johnson could be the MVP of today’s game. He had a sack, a forced fumble, a broken pass on the fourth down and another broken pass.
• Today was sophomore rusher AJ Epenesa’s night out. He didn’t have a bag, but created a bag on one game and knocked Tua Tagovailoa out of the game on another game.
• Congratulations to rookie Greg Rousseau, who scored his first two sacks of his career today.
• The Bills were relentless in getting the LB and DB blitzes off the edge in this game. This earned them six sacks and 11 QB hits.
• The Bills rotated their saves for the remaining seven minutes of the game, after bringing the score to 35-0.
• The Bills have now won five straight games against their division rivals and have won eight of nine against the Ends since Sean McDermott took over in 2017. The only loss, in 2018, came when Zay Jones failed. was able to perform a through pass. in the fourth quarter.
• The 35-0 win was the Bills’ biggest shutout win against Miami since November 6, 1966.

Next week

The Bills host the Washington 1-1 football team on Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT. Washington won on a last-second field goal Thursday to defeat the Giants, 30-29. It was their first victory of the season. Ryan Fitzpatrick won’t be able to play, landing on IR with a hip injury, so Taylor Heinicke will be the starter.