Buffalo vs. Miami turned out to be a great playoff game. The Buffalo Bills barely beat Miami to advance in the playoffs. 7th round pick Skylar Thompson committed a delay of game penalty in the fourth quarter which led to the Bills victory. In the last week, everyone, including myself wrote that Buffalo was a “team of destiny.” Mike McDaniel likes coaching in these situations because the Dolphins kicked the Bills ass for about 3.75 quarters. The Miami defense rose to the occassion getting three turnovers on Team MVP Josh Allen. Skylar Thompson gave it his 1000% best and made throws but in the end, Buffalo escaped with a lesson learned for the Divisional round.
Buffalo started strong
Buffalo went up 17-0 and looked like a #2 seed. Skylar Thompson threw an interception on a bad throw deep in Miami territory. Then sure handed Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Hill dropped passes. I wrote in my preview article here that it would be 48-17. It looked as if Buffalo would drop 50 or 60. Miami put together drives which ended in field goals. Then on a long pass down the field to John Brown, Xavien Howard intercepted the pass and returned it back to the Buffalo 46. Miami scored another field goal and Buffalo couldn’t move off of 17 points.
Miami surges
At 17-6, Miami was still losing but it wasn’t bad. Buffalo got the ball back and the Miami defense held. Miami got ANOTHER field goal, but now they were down by only 8. As fate would have it, Josh Allen committed another turnover with a pass to Cole Beasley that ricocheted off of him into the hand of Jevon Holland. Miami scored and got the two point conversion. Buffalo fans were shocked. As the second half started, Miami punted and Buffalo took over at the 24. Then, in one of the plays of the game, Eric Rowe sacked Josh Allen and Allen fumbled! Zach Sieler picked it up and scored. Miami up 24-20.
Buffalo punches, Miami responds
Buffalo then answered like a Champion. They scored 14 straight points to go up by 10. This was the time of the game where Buffalo would assert themselves and Miami would retract, right?! No. Miami then took the ball and drove 72 yards in 11 plays and closed to within three measley points at 34-31. It was Buffalo’s time to get the ball and go on an eight minute drive to close the game out right?! No! Buffalo couldn’t move the ball down the field as the Dolphin defense forced punts. The only problem was that the Miami offense couldn’t move the ball either.
The Dolphins had one last chance. They started at their own 14 yard line and were held on third down. Then on fourth, the Dolphins went for it again and Thompson completed a 25 yard pass to Jalen Waddle to continue the drive. Thompson hit Waddle again for 14 yards with 3:26 remaining and it looked as if the Dolphins turned the momentum again on their side. Would we be going to overtime?! Nope. The Bills were facing a 4th and 1 when Skylar Thompson couldn’t get the snap off in time. The delay of game penalty moved them back and the Dolphins couldn’t convert the 4th and 6 play.
Miami’s Moral victory, Buffalo’s hard lesson
The Dolphins have provided teams a game plan on how to beat the Bills. Other teams will be scrutinizing and dissecting this game to get any advantage. Even though Mike McDaniel was another Dolphins coach that led his team to the playoffs in his first year, he did better than Adam Gase. The 2016 playoff game was over as soon as it began. The Adam Gase-era in Miami was regrettable. McDaniel coached up his team and they showed grit and scrappiness that few Miami teams have showed in the last 20 years.
Miami will definitely be back to the playoffs and they will also become a media darling next season. I bet they will be in three to four Monday night games and as many Sunday night games. They have a lot to worry about with the health of Tua Tagovailoa but they are truly “a player away” from making a deep playoff run. CBS Sports Tyler Sullivan also writes about Miami’s gains today in this article. The next time they meet Buffalo in the playoffs, the result will be different.
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