Dolphins-Bills Week 8 Complete Highlights and Lowlights

A look at the highlights and lowlights for the Miami Dolphins in the Week 8 game against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium.

DOLPHINS HIGHLIGHTS

FIRST HALF

-- Xavien Howard came up to the line to bump RB Devin Singletary out of bounds after a reception to limit him to a 1-yard gain on the first offensive play of the game.

-- Jevon Holland's pressure on Josh Allen with a blitz on third down forced an incompletion to end Buffalo's first drive.

-- DeVante Parker did what he does best the first time he was targeted, outjumping CB Levi Wallace to make a 23-yard reception to midfield.

-- After being stopped after a 1-yard gain on his first run, Myles Gaskin took advantage of a lot of movement created by the offensive line to gain 7, 5 and 5 yards on his next three.

-- Tua Tagovailoa was able to draw the Bills offside on a third-and-3 where he completed a 7-yard pass to Jaylen Waddle anyway.

-- Tua fit an 8-yard completion to Parker into a tight window.

-- The Dolphins stopped running plays for gains of 0, 1 and 0 on Buffalo's second drive.

-- Tua continued to hook up with Parker on the second drive, hitting him on slants for gains of 14 and 15 yards.

-- Zach Sieler and Howard were credited for the tackle when the Dolphins dropped Zack Moss for a 1-yard loss on third-and-1 from the Buffalo 47, which led to a Bills punt that went only 19 yards.

-- Gaskin got a step on linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, then broke a tackle to turn a short third-down reception into a 22-yard gain to the Buffalo 39.

-- Jason Sanders bounced back after missing a 36-yard field goal by nailing a 51-yard kick in the second quarter.

-- Byron Jones jumped to tip away a deep pass intended for Emmanuel Sanders and safety Brandon Jones created pressure with a blitz on the next play to force a third-down incompletion.

-- Salvon Ahmed took advantage of great blocking on the left side to get a 12-yard run on a second-and-10 from the Miami 7.

-- Safety Eric Rowe had great coverage to break up a pass intended for tight end Tommy Sweeney.

-- Andrew Van Ginkel came up with a huge play right before the half when his pressure against Josh Allen caused an intentional grounding penalty after Buffalo snapped thinking that Jaelan Phillips had jumped offside (he definitely moved, but whether he got into the neutral zone is debatable).

-- Adam Shaheen made a nice diving catch of a low Tua pass in the final minute of the first half.

SECOND HALF

-- Punter Michael Palardy unloaded a 58-yard kick on his first attempt of the second half and it created a net of 47 even after a 9-yard return by Isaiah McKenzie.

-- Brennan Scarlett got the second half starting on a good note for the defense when he got through the line and stuffed Devin Singletary for a 2-yard loss.

-- Emmanuel Ogbah created a second-down incompletion when he batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage.

-- Christian Wilkins hit Allen's arm from the side to force a third-and-14 situation in the third quarter.

-- Tua converted a third-and-5 early in the fourth quarter with a 10-yard completion to Jaylen Waddle, who did a nice job of coming back to the ball.

-- On that same drive, the Dolphins converted a fourth-and-4 when Gesicki got behind safety Micah Hyde and Tua hit him for a 40-yard completion.

DOLPHINS LOWLIGHTS

FIRST HALF

-- On Tua's first pass attempt, he barely avoided a sack after getting heavy pressure and the protection was less than ideal the entire first drive.

-- Tua completed a pass on third-and-5 on the first drive, but pressure caused an early throw and the result was no gain for Waddle.

-- That drive ended in disappointment when Jason Sanders was wide left on a 36-yard field goal attempt.

-- Playing man-to-man coverage on a third-and-10, the defense watched Josh Allen scrambled through a wide open field to gain 34 yards to the Miami 40 to set up Tyler Bass' 57-yard field goal.

-- The Dolphins committed two false starts on their second possession, one by right guard Robert Hunt and the other by left tackle Liam Eichenberg.

-- Salvon Ahmed was dropped for a 3-yard loss on a run when Ed Oliver slanted through the offensive line.

-- The first quarter ended with Tua getting sacked by Mario Addison after he got around Eichenberg.

-- On the first play of the second quarter, Hunt looked like he forgot to pick up Oliver at the line and Oliver got on top of Tua immediately to force him to throw the ball into the ground.

-- On the punt at the end of that series, the Dolphins allowed Isaiah McKenzie to get outside for an 18-yard return.

-- The Dolphins went with a straight handoff on third-and-2 from the Buffalo 31 on their third possession, and penetration never gave Gaskin a chance before he was dropped for a 2-yard loss.

-- An illegal shift penalty on Mike Gesicki nullified a third-completion to Patrick Laird that would have gotten the first down and the Dolphins punted on the drive.

-- The Dolphins cost themselves three points with a ridiculous gaffe at the end of the first half when the shotgun snap hit Gesicki while he was in motion, with Buffalo recovering the fumble.

SECOND HALF

-- The Dolphins' problems simply lining up properly on offense surfaced again at the start of the third quarter, though another illegal shift penalty was declined by Buffalo after a 1-yard completion by Miami.

-- The Dolphins' second possession of the second half was all kinds of ugly, with a completion for minus-1 yard followed by two incompletions.

-- The Dolphins allowed a 15-yard completion to Cole Beasley on third-and-14 at the start of Buffalo's 80-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter.

-- Linebacker Elandon Roberts had a chance to bring down Allen for a loss on a third-and-1 from the Miami 40, though it's fair to point out that Allen is about the same size and that's no easy task.

-- Linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel kept that touchdown drive alive when he grabbed tight end Tommy Sweeney on third-and-5 from the 11.

-- The Dolphins went three-and-out for a third consecutive time with another depressing possession that featured a 2-yard run, a 6-yard completion and an incompletion when Tua threw behind Myles Gaskin in the flat.

-- Raekwon Davis started a Buffalo drive by getting called for illegal hands to the face for the second time.

-- Nik Needham couldn't stay with Cole Beasley on a crossing route and the result was a 17-yard completion to the Miami 47.

-- The Dolphins gave up a 14-yard completion to Beasley on a third-and-13 to set up the touchdown that made it 17-3.

-- On that touchdown, Howard played off the line at bit and Stefon Diggs made a quick inside cut in front of him and he never had a chance to make up the ground.

-- Buffalo pretty much put the game away with its last field goal drive, and the crucial play was a 20-yard completion to (who else?) Beasley to the Miami 36.

-- The sequence on the drive that ended with the Jordan Poyer interceptions was all kinds of ugly, as it featured a drop by DeVante Parker, followed by a holding penalty against Jesse Davis, followed by a sack that caused a fumble that the Dolphins were able to recover.

-- After watching Buffalo score a touchdown with 1:07 left, the Dolphins made the really strange decision to have Tua throw a swing pass to Myles Gaskin when taking a knee or simply handing off obviously would have made more sense. Even a pass downfield would have been better.