It was a night to forget for the home team
The Miami Dolphins hosted the Buffalo Bills last Thursday night. Miami was fresh off a come-from-behind win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, just as the Bills were coming off a comeback win over the Arizona Cardinals. While Miami had high hopes entering the Week 2 game, those hopes were dashed after the Bills blasted the Dolphins in a 31-10 drubbing.
Making matters worse, not all of Miami’s players made it out of the game unscathed. While football is a game where injuries are inevitable, some injuries are much more difficult to absorb than others. When they happen to a team’s starting quarterback, defeat is nearly always inevitable.
Here’s how our five Dolphins to watch performed last week.
QB Tua Tagovailoa
Tua Tagovailoa’s subpar performance is of secondary concern given that he suffered what appeared to be another major concussion in the third quarter. Trailing 31-10 and driving, the Dolphins faced a fourth down. Tagovailoa scrambled for the first down, and rather than sliding, he dove forward, ramming his head into safety Damar Hamlin’s midsection. Tagovailoa hit the ground and immediately went into the “fencing position,” which generally indicates a loss of consciousness and is a telltale sign of a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa completed 17-of-25 passes for just 145 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions (including a pick-six for Ja’Marcus Ingram), and an abysmal 56.7 quarterback rating. It was another night of struggles for Tagovailoa against a Bills defense that is exceptionally disciplined and can counter the eye-candy from play caller/head coach Mike McDaniel with solid, scheme-efficient play.
For Tagovailoa, though, the greater concern is his health. I know I speak for the vast majority of Bills Mafia (the ones I want to hang with, anyway) when I say that I hope TUa Tagovailoa is well sooner rather than later. He’s a great human being, first and foremost, and you never want to see injuries derail a young person’s career.
WR Tyreek Hill
While Hill ran plenty of deep routes, using his speed, the Bills were able to lock him up all night. Hill saw six targets, but he caught just three passes for 24 yards. He ran for 12 yards on a jet-sweep, but he was really a non-factor in the game. The cornerback combination of Christian Benford and Rasul Douglas gave Hill fits, and safeties Damar Hamlin and Taylor Rapp did a great job alternating as the deep man over the top. Hill is a star wideout, but Buffalo’s defense played its assignments perfectly.
WR Jaylen Waddle
See above. Waddle didn’t do much, either, as he caught just four passes on four targets for 41 yards. The heat and humidity made it so that Waddle and Hill had to come off the field a bit more than the Dolphins may have wanted, and Tagovailoa’s first two interceptions came when he was throwing to backup wideouts. He threw a good ball to Grant DuBose that the second-year man wasn’t looking for, which caused a deflection and an interception by Ja’Marcus Ingram on Miami’s first possession. Later in the first quarter, Tagovailoa threw to Robbie Chosen, and he airmailed the wideout in what appeared to be a miscommunication on a choice route. That ball went right to Christian Benford. Waddle and Hill, though, were also held in check all night long.
CB Kendall Fuller
The veteran had four tackles and a pass breakup, but given that Buffalo didn’t pass much, it’s hard to say how much impact Fuller had on the game in his first taste of the Bills-Dolphins rivalry. There wasn’t much for Miami’s secondary to do, and as the Bills kept turning Miami’s offense over, they didn’t have to go far when scoring, either. Fuller is a solid player coming off a terrible year with the Washington Commanders, but he didn’t look to be much of an upgrade for a Dolphins defense that was run over and through all night.
S Jordan Poyer
If we’ve learned anything from Bill Belichick, it’s that it’s always best to cut ties with a player one year too early than it is to do so one year too late. It’s even better when a team cuts ties with a player at exactly the right time. More than once on Thursday, we saw why One Bills Drive had to move on from Poyer, who was a phenomenal player for the Bills, but has just flat lost a step over the years.
There are two plays that stand out. One is the completion Josh Allen had to Khalil Shakir to convert a second down where Poyer was late coming over and then was penalized for a clear helmet-to-helmet hit on Shakir, who was thankfully okay. Then, it was the James Cook 49-yard touchdown run where Poyer appeared to have the angle, but Cook was just too fast for the 33-year old safety. Poyer dove helplessly as Cook somersaulted into the end zone. Poyer finished the game with four tackles.