5 lessons from Bill’s dramatic win over Dolphins

Faced with what was essentially a must-win situation, the Miami Dolphins gave the Buffalo Bills all they could handle on a Sunday afternoon in Orchard Park.

But Sean McDermott’s side overcame another slow start to ultimately walk away with a hard-fought 30-27 win thanks to another strong performance from Josh Allen and of course a dramatic 61-yard field goal from Tyler Bass in the final seconds. .

Buffalo wasn’t perfect by any means, but a win is a win. Now sitting at 7-2, the Bills are essentially a lock to win the AFC East for the fifth straight season as they hold a full four-game lead over second place. Jets from New York with eight games left to play.

It’s not that the Bills can’t lose the division, but it’s highly unlikely. Now with two wins over the Dolphins, they will win the tiebreaker if Miami magically turns things around. They’ve also beaten the Jets once, with their second matchup set for Week 17.

Buffalo also has its two last-place games New England Patriots There is still play to be done, which will take place in weeks 16 and 18. So once again, this race is over. But let’s not jump too far ahead and start looking at Buffalo’s possible playoff opponents.

For now, let’s take a look at some winners and losers from the Bills’ win over the Dolphins.

Let’s start (pun intended) with the biggest winner of the day: Tyler Bass.

It’s no secret that Bass struggled at times early in the season. Things got so bad that Buffalo brought in competition. And against Miami, for a minute it looked like those problems had returned, as he missed an extra-point attempt after Mack Hollins’ touchdown reception to open the second half and almost missed another one later, kicking the ball from the upright bounced inwards.

But McDermott ultimately had complete confidence in his kicker, and it resulted in the longest field goal in franchise history, breaking the previous mark of 59 yards, set by Steve Christie in 1993. Bass was given the game ball in the locker room. and became extremely emotional, which is understandable given his up-and-down season thus far.

This was clearly one of the highlights, and it will only give him more confidence for the future.

Okay, so Josh Allen threw an interception for the second week in a row, bringing his season total to two, which is clearly still phenomenal considering his past issues with turnovers.

But outside of the pick, the NFL MVP candidate had another strong game, especially in the second half.

Highly inconsistent through the first 30 minutes, Allen settled in and threw all three of his touchdown passes in the second 30 minutes, ultimately ending the day having completed 25 of 39 passes for 235 yards. His 17 touchdown passes now rank fourth in the NFL.

And let’s get real here. His little flip touchdown pass to Quintin Morris in the fourth quarter was ridiculous.

After filling in beautifully for James Cook against the Jets a few weeks ago, rookie running back Ray Davis didn’t get many touches in the two games that followed.

And it’s not like the fourth-rounder touched the ball that often against the Dolphins. But when he did, he made it count.

The Bills opted not to go to the ground game as much on Sunday, running the ball just 19 times. But Davis got four of those carries and rushed for 20 yards. But he did much more damage as a receiver, catching two passes for 70 yards, 63 of them on a dynamic catch-and-run touchdown in the third quarter that helped Buffalo take a 20-13 lead.

Davis has become a fantastic second option in the backfield and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get more opportunities as the season progresses.

Having gone wrong several times this season, the Bills struggled to get things going in the first half against the Dolphins, only to pick things up in the final 30 minutes and pull out a win.

Sunday marked the fifth time this season that buffalo trailed at the break, a group of games that also included their losses to the Baltimore Ravens And Houston Texans. In those five games, Buffalo was outscored 75-29 in the first half and won the second half by a combined margin of 96-41.

Overall, the Bills have outscored their opponents 146-58 over the last 30 minutes, including a 24-17 lead over Miami on Sunday. They actually have an overall margin of +13 in the first half (121-108), but if you take away the 34-3 lead they were up against the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars in week 3 it drops to -18.

The ability to adapt is undoubtedly a great trait for a team. But if the Bills continue to fall early, especially against better teams, their luck will eventually run out.

After the Bills allowed the Ravens to rush for 271 yards in Week 4, the Buffalo run defense improved tremendously in the four games that followed, allowing just 84.0 yards per game.

But they took a step back on Sunday, allowing the Dolphins to rush for 149 yards and give up 4.8 yards per carry.

Against Miami, it clearly turned out not to matter as the Bills got the win. Still, with the upcoming games against several teams with strong rushing attacks, it’s definitely something to keep an eye on.