Buffalo Bills vs. Miami Dolphins Notebook: Tyreek Hill Silenced, Josh Allen Dazzles
Talk about a statement victory. The best game of Sunday was supposed to be the Miami Dolphins visiting the Buffalo Bills. Instead, the Bills won 48-20, posting the largest margin of victory of the early slate.
The defense held a world-beating Dolphins attack to 393 yards, but four sacks and two turnovers stifled pivotal drives. Buffalo pulled away during the second half and, to the favor of other AFC contenders, made Miami look mortal.
Offensively, they broke the 400-yard mark and, perhaps more importantly, played an incredibly clean game. What else is there to take away from the win?
1. The Bills’ secondary didn’t let Miami’s superstars beat them.
Giving up as many yards as they did wasn’t ideal, but “shutting down” this Miami offense is more equivalent to just surviving the outing. The Bills certainly did that.
They set out all week to keep up with the Dolphins’ speed in the passing game with disciplined play and strong fundamentals. As long as star receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle didn’t break the game open, Buffalo was going to have a chance.
Hill was limited to three catches and 58 yards. Waddle hauled in four passes for 46 yards. Neither would score.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s first read is frequently one of those two, unsurprisingly so. Taking those first reads away forced Tagovailoa to hold onto the football, meaning that for the first time, a pass rush was able to impact the game.
He was sacked four times on Sunday.
2. Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs were franchise players Buffalo needs them to be.
For the first time since Week 1, the Bills struggled to run the ball. Running backs James Cook, Damien Harris, and Latavius Murray had some important runs, but no back looked particularly impressive.
The offense didn’t suffer for it.
Stefon Diggs celebrates after a game-changing pass from Josh Allen.
© Mark Konezny, USA TODAY
Simply put, quarterback Josh Allen came to play. He completed 21-of-25 passes for 320 yards. He threw for four touchdowns and rushed for another. In the biggest game of the young season, at home, he erased any doubts about his status as an elite quarterback.
Please don’t listen to the pundits panicking over four season-opening turnovers. ... or those who were worried about a potential rift with star receiver Stefon Diggs.
Diggs finished the game with six catches for 120 yards and three touchdowns, which was highlighted by a tackle-breaking 55-yard catch-and-run score near the end of the second quarter. This touchdown gave the Bills a 28-14 and allowed them to start pulling away.
A sloppy game could have put Buffalo’s defense back on the field against the league’s best offense. Even in a game where the defense found success, nobody wants to take more snaps and more opportunities to get gashed. Allen was clean, efficient, and emblematic of the type of quarterback that wins big games.
3. The road ahead is going to get tougher without Tre’Davious White.
Buffalo won the day, obviously. Still, it is absolutely crushing that the cost of Sunday’s victory might be cornerback Tre’Davious White.
White was a big piece of the defense’s performance, and as the team’s best corner, an integral part of the secondary. He helped double Hill on the fourth-down play that may have ended his season.
White would be carted off the field with what seems like an Achilles injury.
“He’s been through a lot,” said head coach Sean McDermott. “Sometimes you wonder why things like that happen twice … he will rebound.”
There’s no official news, but McDermott was visibly shaken. Losing White to a career-threatening injury is unspeakably brutal. Maybe it's the type of thing the Bills can rally around, but it ultimately makes the win bittersweet.
Expect cornerback Kaiir Elam to be activated in his place.
