Dolphins-Bills Wild-Card Playoffs: The Five Biggest Plays

The Miami Dolphins put up a valiant effort but came up just short when they dropped a 34-31 decision against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

We rank the five biggest, most important, plays of the game:

1. The Failed Fourth Down

The Dolphins officially lost any chance of winning when Devin Singletary bulldozed his way through a group of defenders to get a first down on a run, but in reality the game was over when Skylar Thompson's fourth-down pass to Mike Gesicki fell incomplete. That came on a fourth-and-6 after the Dolphins took a delay-of-game penalty, which came because the Dolphins were out of timeouts because of previous issues getting plays off on time. This one really hurt because the Dolphins initially had a fourth-and-1 that actually was more like half a yard to gain. Head coach Mike McDaniel said after the game he had been told that the Dolphins had gotten the first down on the previous play, so the team had the wrong personnel on the field for a fourth-and-1. Thompson handed off to Ahmed, who easily was stuffed for a loss, but the officials already had thrown the flag for the delay. On the ensuing fourth-and-6, Thompson was flushed out of the pocket after Boogie Basham beat right tackle Robert Hunt to the inside and then he failed to set his feet and threw kind of floater toward Mike Gesicki in the flat that cornerback Kaiir Elam broke up. This was not a very good fourth-down effort considering the game was on the line.

2. The Final Dolphins Third Down

While it's the fourth-down play, complete with the delay penalty, that's going to get the most attention, there were a lot of issues with the preceding third down, a play that went down in the books as a run for no gain by Salvon Ahmed. It officially was third-and-1 from the Miami 48, though it actually was closer to 2 yards. Thompson handed off to Ahmed despite Buffalo having 10 players at the line of scrimmage when this situation called for an audible to a pass because there was no way a run up the middle was going to be successful here, though Ahmed did come close.

3. The Josh Allen Draw Play

The Dolphins' only lead of the game ended up lasting almost nine minutes in the third quarter and it disappeared with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Josh Allen to Cole Beasley. And that came after the Bills caught the Dolphins off guard on third-and-8 from the Miami 18 when they called a draw play for Allen. The ball was snapped after a Bills receiver motioned to the left of the offensive formation, creating a hole in the defense in that area. By the time Jaelan Phillips reacted to the draw, Allen already was by him and he easily gained 12 yards to set up a first-and-goal.

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4. Jaylen Waddle's Drop

Maybe it's unfair to point to a first-quarter play when the Dolphins twice had possessions in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead, but this was a game where the heavy underdog Dolphins played catch-up most of the way. And maybe things might have played out differently had the Dolphins been able to play with a lead earlier than the third quarter. And they had a great chance to do just that when Thompson threw what looked like a perfect deep pass to Jaylen Waddle from the Dolphins 34 to the Buffalo 32. But for some reason, Waddle unnecessarily jumped for the ball and ended up dropping it. This also would set the tone for an afternoon when the Dolphins receivers didn't help Thompson very much.

5. The Kaiir Elam INT

The Dolphins not only had two possessions with a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter, they also had two possessions in the third quarter when they did have the lead. Not only did they not get a single first down on those two third-quarter possessions, they gave Buffalo a short field on the second occasion when Thompson made his worst decision of the game. The decision to throw downfield on the sideline on third-and-19 from the 8 was overly aggressive to begin with, and it became costly when Elam jumped in front of Trent Sherfield to make the interception. It's entirely possible the Bills would have taken the lead on their next drive regardless, but the Dolphins made it easier on them by giving them a first down at the Miami 33.

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