The Bills laid the wood to Miami once again
The Buffalo Bills faced off against the Miami Dolphins last Thursday night, and once again, they emerged victorious — and in convincing fashion. The Bills parlayed three Dolphins turnovers into 17 points, adding another touchdown off a turnover on downs en route to a 31-10 thrashing of their division rivals.
Of late, the rivalry has been a bit one-sided, as Buffalo has beaten Miami in all but two of their last 15 meetings. After narrowly hanging on to defeat the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1, it was a good sign to watch Buffalo handle their business on the road on a short week against an AFC East foe.
In order to have come out on top, the Bills needed some big performances from their top players, and that’s exactly what they received. Here’s how our five players to watch fared last week.
QB Josh Allen
I wrote that Allen would need to continue his streak of dominant play against Miami if the Bills wanted to continue their streak of dominance against the Dolphins, and honestly, that turned out to be entirely false. Allen was efficient, but he was far from dominant, at least by his own high standards against Miami. He completed 13-of-19 passes for just 139 yards and a touchdown, adding two runs for two yards on the night. The scoring toss went to James Cook on a 4th & 3 to punctuate Buffalo’s first scoring drive.
Cook was the real offensive star of the night, totaling 95 yards and three scores on 12 touches (11 carries, one reception). It’s nice that Allen didn’t have to be Superman in a three-score win over Miami. The fact that Buffalo started four of their 10 offensive possessions in Miami territory certainly helped to suppress Allen’s counting stats, as well.
WR Mack Hollins
After a Week 1 touchdown, I thought the Bills might look to feature Hollins a bit more this week. I was wrong. The big wideout was targeted just once in the passing game, and he didn’t catch that target. Buffalo’s leading receiver was Khalil Shakir, who caught all five of his targets for 54 yards.
TE Dalton Kincaid
Well, I was right on one thing: offensive coordinator Joe Brady designed some early looks for Kincaid just a week after the second-year man caught only one pass. Buffalo’s first two passing plays were quick passes to Kincaid, and they ran the same two plays early in the second half, as well. Those four targets were Kincaid’s only looks, but he caught all four of them for 33 yards. Those numbers were good for second behind Shakir in all three of those categories. On a night where your quarterback doesn’t hit 140 passing yards, it’s unlikely anyone will have big numbers, so this doesn’t come as much of a surprise.
DB Cam Lewis
This is two weeks in a row now where Lewis has been really, really good. It’s two weeks in a row where the Bills have contained explosive passing attacks, as well. This time around, the Bills tormented quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, and while Lewis wasn’t the former UB player to intercept two passes — that was defensive back Ja’Marcus Ingram, who also scored his first touchdown by returning Tagovailoa’s third pick 31 yards for the only score of the second half — he did play more defensive snaps than anyone other than cornerback Christian Benford. Lewis had four tackles and was outstanding in coverage once again.
CB Rasul Douglas
Speaking of outstanding in coverage, Douglas was dynamite for the second straight week. Buffalo’s secondary, which was a point of concern all offseason for some, looks like an elite unit even without All-Pro slot corner Taron Johnson. Douglas was part of a secondary that limited wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle to just seven catches for 65 yards on the evening. Douglas had six tackles, including one tackle for loss.
Bonus: The Entire Defensive Line
The big boys heard me, and they wreaked havoc on Miami’s offensive line. The first big play came from defensive tackle Ed Oliver, who manhandled Miami’s left guard en route to a fourth-down sack of Tagovailoa when the game was very much still in doubt. Oliver had three tackles, two tackles for loss, the aforementioned sack, and a quarterback hit on the evening.
Later in the game, edge rusher Von Miller closed out another Dolphins scoring threat by sacking quarterback Skyler Thompson on a 4th & Goal in the fourth quarter. In between, the defensive front led by defensive end A.J. Epenesa forced Tagovailoa into a terrible decision when he tried to throw a ball away across the field on a 3rd & Long early in the second half. That throw-away turned into Ingram’s pick-six.
If the Bills can keep generating this kind of pressure up front, it’s only going to help their excellent secondary. Head coach Sean McDermott and defensive coordinator Bobby Babich are doing an impeccable job thus far with Buffalo’s stop unit.