Slumbering Bills Lay an Egg in Miami

By Gregory Brown

The Buffalo Bills rolled into Hard Rock Stadium looking to extend their two-game winning streak against the embattled Miami Dolphins. Instead, Buffalo sleep-walked its way to an uninspired 30 – 13 shellacking by Miami.  Most Bills fans expected them to make easy work of the Dolphins, who had just fired their African-American GM Chris Grier and seemed very close to pulling the trigger on HC Mike McDaniel. Once hailed as a ‘Whiz Kid,’ McDaniel now seems like a “dead man walking.”

Accordingly, most of Bills Mafia thought this game would be a run-for-the-bus surrender by the Dolphins. But yet, it was Bills who are running further and further away from title contention in the AFC East. With New England’s gritty win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Bills now trail the Pats by two full games in the divisional race. The Patriots have a much easier schedule the rest of the way and have a real shot at unseating Buffalo for the division crown.

After their rousing victory last week over the Chiefs, Buffalo apparently came into this game believing they could just put it on automatic pilot. They seemed to think that the Dolphins would simply roll over and play dead. Indeed, the Dolphins coming in with a lowly 2 – 7 record, had every reason to pack it in.  But instead of simply playing out the string, the Dolphins showed themselves to be a proud and resilient bunch. Many of these guys were playing not only for pride, but also for their jobs. After this season, the Dolphins seem poised for a total house cleaning and a rebuild to follow.

Many of the players now on their roster are playing for their jobs come next season.  While there are a couple of players who are sure fire returnees - like RB De’Von Achane and WR Jaylen Waddle - there are a lot more, including, QB Tua Tagovailoa, whose future in Miami is uncertain.

As for Buffalo, the injury bug continues to bite them in the butt. CB Christian Benford, who suffered a groin injury in practice, was replaced by rookie CB Maxwell Hairston, who was making his first NFL start. Unfortunately, Hairston got abused by Waddle for several big plays, including a 38-yard touchdown reception on a go-route.

Rookie third round draft choice Landon Jackson, who was getting his first real action at defensive end, after being a healthy scratch for most of the season, was lost to what appeared be a serious knee injury. The injury occurred on the Bills first defensive series of the game, before Jackson even had a chance to show what he might be able to offer the team. 

Veteran DE Joey Bosa, who has really showed out for the Bills, played with a huge cast over his injured left wrist and hand, which allowed one of Achane’s many explosive runs. That was because Bosa was unable to wrap up and make the tackle, which would have been behind the line of scrimmage. To add insult to injury, Buffalo’s third best offensive weapon, TE Dalton Kincaid, left the game early with a hamstring injury that could put him on the shelf for multiple weeks.

With injuries continuing to decimate the Bills, especially on defense, the mentality of ‘next man up’ must now become their mantra.  Young players like Hairston, Javon Solomon, TJ Sanders, Jordan Hancock and others must now be thrown into the fire a lot sooner than the Bills coaching staff may have wanted. Even second-year man, WR Keon Coleman, must now put up or shut up. Coleman must find a way to get separation in the pass game, or find a seat on the bench.

Gregory Brown

The Bills are at a critical point in their season. They have to even out the peaks and valleys in their game, where one week they look like Super Bowl contenders and the next, like the Bad News Bears.

The Bills have been down this road before. Two seasons ago, the Bills had been given up for dead. Back then, however, they ran the table by winning out in their last five games, thereby edging the Dolphins for the division crown. They did so because of HC Sean McDermott’s coaching which kept the team together in body and spirit when it could have easily fallen apart. McDermott will need to do an encore, as he strives to keep his team strong and together – especially on defense - with just glue and chicken wire.