After losing seven straight contests to the Buffalo Bills, the Miami Dolphins walked away with a 21-19 victory in their Week 3 meeting.
Buffalo moved the ball methodically down the field for most of the game, including drives of 10 plays and 14 plays in the first half that resulted in touchdowns.
Miami’s offense started the game a little slow, but Jevon Holland’s strip-sack of Josh Allen (recovered by Melvin Ingram) set up the unit for Chase Edmonds to get the first rushing touchdown of his Dolphins tenure.
After Tua Tagovailoa orchestrated arguably their best drive of the day, resulting in a River Cracraft touchdown, the quarterback suffered an extremely scary head injury. Tagovailoa was woozy and looked unable to walk under his own power.
Injuries continued to be the storyline for this game, as Xavien Howard, Melvin Ingram, Greg Little, Robert Hunt and Elandon Roberts all left the matchup at different points. That’s without mentioning all of the ailments that Buffalo’s players were dealing with before and during the contest.
Somehow, Tagovailoa cleared concussion protocol in the second half and returned to action. They looked unable to do much again not long after the break, as they punted during their first two drives.
However, Miami’s defense, putting pressure on Allen and refusing to give up touchdowns despite drives of up to 20 plays, stayed resilient. Buffalo scored just five points after halftime, including a missed field goal that would’ve given them enough points to win.
Tagovailoa showed mirrored his defense’s fortitude, hitting Jaylen Waddle for a 45-yard strike early in the fourth quarter on third-and-22, which paved way for Edmonds’ second touchdown on the day.
After Miami’s defense forced a late turnover-on-downs during a 17-play drive, the offensive line couldn’t get any push for Tagovailoa or the running backs. As they were backed up at their own 1-yard line, punter Thomas Morstead attempted a punt, but it went off of his protector, Trent Sherfield, and out of the end zone for a safety.
Allen had one more shot to bring his team back and kick a field goal to win. Miami’s defense, which was on the field for a significant amount of time in this game, didn’t allow Buffalo’s offense to move freely. They gained 36 yards on their final drive, but they didn’t have enough time to spike the ball and attempt a kick.
As the game clock expired, Miami was victorious, defeating an AFC opponent for the third time in three weeks.
