Miami Dolphins-Buffalo Bills Week 9 Instant Takeaways

What’s special about the Miami Dolphins’ Week 9 matchup against the Buffalo Bills?

Let’s start with the inactive list, highlighted by five players out due to injury:

Also inactive were RB Jeff Wilson Jr. and OL Andrew Meyer.

The Dolphins were without a backup third quarterback for the second straight game.

Rookie fifth-round pick Mohamed Kamara was active for only the second time this season.

There’s no sugarcoating this: It was another blowout loss in a game the Dolphins were in and easily could have won.

We’ve said it before: This team just has bad karma that seems to find a new way to lose every week.

While it’s easy to complain that the defense didn’t stop Buffalo in the second half, the reality is that this was always a game that the offense should have won. And the offense was great in the second half, although it wasn’t good enough in the first half.

Props to Tua Tagovailoa, who was very, very good and made a great game-tying shot late in the fourth quarter.

Props to De’Von Achane, who had another great all-around game as the undisputed new #1 guard.

Chop Robinson made a quick contribution when his pressure forced Josh Allen to fail to complete the race in third place in the first race. It was impressive how quickly Robinson passed Dion Dawkins to the Pro Bowl.

After him “eating chips on the sofa” Commentary, the last thing Tua Tagovailoa wanted was to take an easy shotgun hit, but here we were on the first play – and that one was much easier than the one against Arizona. This play killed Miami’s first drive.

After the drive stalled, Jake Bailey fumbled the punt and the 29-yard high return gave Buffalo the ball at the 37—another example of special teams hurting and not helping the Dolphins.

In another reminder of how lucky the Dolphins were that no one signed Emmanuel Ogbah when he was out in the summer, Josh Allen attempted to tackle the QB on third-and-3 late in the drive. Ogbba split the block and dropped Allen for a 7-yard loss while playing with a torn biceps.

It was a really tough first quarter for Durham Smythe given the bigger role with Hill missing the game. He committed a false start and then was pushed back when the Dolphins forced Raheem Mostert to run on third-and-1.

The Dolphins got a break when Bills cornerback Taylor Rupp was flagged for unnecessary roughness on helmet-to-helmet contact with Raheem Mostert when replays showed Mostert had his head down and was the one initiating the contact. As we always say, sometimes you get a call, sometimes you don’t.

With the game tied 3-3, the Dolphins got the play they needed from the defense when Allen threw a perfect slant pass to Keon Coleman, but he let the ball bounce off his shoulder and was picked off by Jalen Ramsey. on a carmble for his first interception of the season.

The Dolphins then scored a 14-play super touchdown that gave them the lead and 8:21 off the clock. The drive featured ten runs plus a shovel pass to tight end Jonnu Smith.

It was disappointing that the Dolphins gave up a field goal to end the first half, but they were fortunate to capitalize on a pair of shaky calls against Buffalo. The most egregious move was against Dawkins when Robinson fell in front of him and he simply pushed him down.

The second half began with Raheem Mostert gaining 7 yards on a run and completing a 15-yard play, but the Dolphins’ fumbling issue resurfaced on the next play when Taron Johnson knocked the ball out of Mostert’s hands and the Bills recovered. While this is a good play from Johnson, the Dolphins offense needs to do a better job of protecting the ball.

The transfer helped Buffalo gain momentum and set the stage for the second half.

Since we previously praised Ogbah, we should note that he bit too much inside on the run and Ty Johnson bounced outside for a 17-yard gain.

Calais Campbell made his presence felt throughout the game, including getting a great penetration on a James Cook pass where he was unable to bring it down before Buffalo scored on a fourth-and-1 completion to former Dolphins wide receiver Mack Hollins.

The Dolphins responded as they had throughout the second half, showing the type of fight that Jordan Poyer questioned over the summer. The biggest play of the drive was a 28-yard encounter between Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill.

The defense gave up the lead very quickly when a major breakdown sent running back Ray Davis wide open in the flat. He easily beat Marcus Maye in the open field for a 63-yard touchdown.

After the third quarter ended with Hill’s 27-yard completion after Tagovailoa’s nice throw, the Dolphins came back again, tying the game on Achane’s 8-yard touchdown run.

The defense, however, was again unable to stop the Buffalo defense, posting three consecutive completions of 10 yards or more.

The touchdown continued after Siran Neal was flagged for a defensive holding on third-and-goal from the seven-yard line.

The Dolphins’ tying drive showed Tua at his best, with a beautiful 12-yard completion to Jaylen Waddle near the sideline.

The touchdown catch was another great play by Tua as he bought time in the pocket before pistol-whipping Waddle. Mike McDaniel made an interesting call, kicking the extra point when the score was 27-27 instead of two.

Buffalo’s final drive started off great for the defense, with Robinson and Calais Campbell teaming up for a field goal followed by an incompletion that made it third-and-14.

But Robinson made a major rookie mistake when he gave Buffalo a 5-yard penalty for a neutral zone violation.

However, it wasn’t as bad as the next play, which was the Dolphins’ killer. And it’s easy to complain about the roughness of the penalty against Jordan Poyer, but the replay clearly showed helmet-to-helmet contact.

And then, just because it’s such a season for the Dolphins, Tyler Bass just blew his 61-yard field goal attempt after nearly every struggle of the season.

So the Dolphins were left with another loss in a game they fought and easily could have won.