The Buffalo Bills entered their Wild Card matchup with the Miami Dolphins as huge favorites. Once news of Tua Tagovailoa being unavailable to play due to concussion protocols, the line jumped all the way to 13.5, per FanDuel. This game was not expected to be close by most people, myself included.
The Dolphins were starting third-string rookie QB Skylar Thompson. That wasn’t the only injury concern for Miami either. They were without their starting running back, Raheem Mostert, and a number of other starters were far less than 100 percent healthy.
Meanwhile, the Bills entered mostly healthy. Yes, they didn’t have either Von Miller or Micah Hyde. But they have been playing most of the season without either of them, so that can’t really be taken into account much.
Buffalo jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter. Dawson Knox dropped what would have been a touchdown to make it 21-0. Instead, the drop gave a glimmer of hope to Miami and they ran with it. They actually led 24-20 in the third quarter, quieting the once-raucous crowd in Orchard Park, New York. Nevertheless, the Bills bounced back to score a couple more times and held on for a 34-31 victory.
With that in mind, let’s discuss the Bills’ studs and duds from their Wild Card win over the Dolphins.
Bills Studs
Buffalo’s Wide Receiving Corps
The Buffalo Bills wide receivers as a whole had a huge game against the Dolphins Sunday. Of course, Stefon Diggs led the way statistically. He finished with seven catches for 114 yards, both of which led the team. Seemingly every time Josh Allen looked his way, good things happened. But he was far from the only one who had a big game.
Gabe Davis also had a big game. He caught six passes for 113 yards. That included what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown. Davis did a fantastic job getting his two feet down inbounds with inches to spare.
Arguably the biggest catch of the game wasn’t even made by either of those players. Khalil Shakir made a fantastic leaping catch midway through the fourth quarter on a pivotal third down. That allowed the Bills to eat a couple more minutes off the clock, which proved to be important late.
Even Cole Beasley made an impact. He reeled in a touchdown pass to give the Bills the lead back. Later, he caught and ran for 31 yards, setting up Davis’ touchdown.
Matt Milano
Bills linebacker Matt Milano had a very good game Sunday. He seemed to be everywhere on defense, making plays sideline to sideline. Milano finished the game with two sacks, 10 tackles, eight of which were solo, and three QB hits.
Miami clearly wanted to establish a run game with the young Thompson at quarterback. Yet, Miami was held to a total of 42 rush yards on 20 carries. The Dolphins never got anything going on the ground and Milano was one of the big reasons why.
Bills Duds
Josh Allen
I know, I know, you are probably thinking how could Josh Allen be on the Bills’ dud list. After all, he threw for 352 yards and three touchdown passes. But this isn’t about just stats.
One of the biggest reasons some people don’t believe in the Bills is because of Allen’s inability to stop turning the football over. That issue cropped its head back up once again Sunday. Allen not only threw two interceptions, but also fumbled in the third quarter. That fumble was scooped up and run back for a touchdown, putting the Bills behind in the second half.
Yes, Allen bounced back and threw two more touchdown passes after that. But in game where your opponent was on the road, missing a ton of starters and using a third-string quarterback, there is no reason for that game to be as close as it was. The biggest reason was turnovers.
One of the two interceptions was deflected off of Beasley. But that throw was in a tight window and not necessary. The other interception Allen overthrew a deep ball and was run back 50 yards by Xavien Howard.
Allen actually fumbled three times, but only one was lost. Time and again he carried the football uncovered into a pile, or hung it out wide like a loaf of bread. Until Allen can finally learn to take better care of the football, he puts the Bills at risk.
Buffalo’s Offensive Line
Not all of the struggles were due to Allen. The offensive line had a difficult time protecting the Pro Bowl quarterback. Allen was sacked seven times and was under constant duress throughout the game.
That is something that will need to change if Buffalo intends to make a deep run this postseason.