Dolphins Lose at Buffalo: Quick Takeaways
There was more of the same for the Miami Dolphins in their seventh consecutive loss, the 26-11 setback against the Buffalo Bills, but also some things we haven't seen very much this season.
The new was the relentless pressure we saw the Dolphins applying on quarterback Josh Allen for the first half and maybe the early part of the third quarter.
It's not that the Dolphins got a lot of sacks because they actually weren't credited with even one, but it was very obvious that they affected Josh Allen.
The Dolphins sent extra rushers at Allen on a consistent basis because the four-man rush quite simply isn't getting it done, but whatever, it worked.
The question, of course, is where has that been all season?
-- The defense obviously couldn't sustain its elite performance the entire game, which is regrettable but somewhat understandable against an offense like Buffalo's, and the biggest issue was finding someone who could cover Cole Beasley. Buffalo's slot receiver just ate up the Dolphins, often against Nik Needham, to the tune of 10 catches for 110 yards. And that included some key third-down conversions. Quite simply, he was the difference in the game. The Dolphins switched Needham out for Justin Coleman at some point, but the reality is that Needham is the better player and it didn't matter who was on him.
-- And to anyone who would point the finger at the defense and talk about how it gave up 23 points in the second half and didn't get the job done, it says here a legitimate team would have been in a position to have taken control of the game in the first half when Miami held Buffalo to three points and five first downs.
-- But it's pretty clear that the Dolphins offense is far from legitimate these days and it got so bad at times Sunday that even lining up correctly was an issue. The play at the end of the first half that resulted in Mike Gesicki getting a shotgun snap into his chest and causing a fumble and three points lost was the stuff of Football Follies (look it up). Who's to blame for that? Yes.
-- The offensive line, meanwhile, was ever-so-slightly better than it was in the first meeting against Buffalo, which is to say it was bad compared to horrible. And, while it's been easy to pile on Austin Jackson this season, he certainly wasn't the one who stood out for all the wrong reasons on this day. Rather, it was rookie second-round pick Liam Eichenberg and right guard Robert Hunt who really appeared to struggle.
-- The final rushing numbers for the Dolphins were 23 carries for 68 yards, which doesn't even average out to 3 yards per carry. That's not winning football.
-- For all those so quick to dump on DeVante Parker because he's so often injured, he showed again today that he's just a flat-out quality wide receiver. Yes, he did have the late drop, but he still came up big for the Dolphins and was easily the team's best player on this team.
-- And we'll go ahead and save the hottest topic for last, and that's of course Tua Tagovailoa. While it's quite obvious this loss wasn't on him and he just doesn't get much help on offense, let's also not pretend that he doesn't ever play a part in the offense's shortcomings. That's just lazy. Yes, the offensive line struggles, but the inability to throw downfield — yes, we understand there was a 40-yard completion to Mike Gesicki on a fourth-down play — is a major problem. As we've said before, Tagovailoa is not the biggest problem on this Dolphins team, but he's also limited enough that he needs everything around him working to elevate his play — when it's the other way around with truly elite quarterbacks. And, yes, that's where Deshaun Watson would make a difference. From a purely football standpoint, Watson is a clear and massive upgrade who might not single-handedly win games but also would make the offense more efficient. Lastly, for those who always pointed to Tua's record to justify his performance of 2020, you can't turn around and now say that the three consecutive losses don't mean anything because Tua has played well. It's one or the other, not both, and from this standpoint, the won-loss record is a team stat.
-- And on that last note, the Dolphins' team stat of won-loss record stinks.
