Bills continue dominance of Dolphins with beatdown on Thursday Night Football

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - That was quite a statement the Buffalo Bills made Thursday night in their home away from home, Hard Rock Stadium.

There has been plenty of speculation regarding the Bills’ viability as a team capable of winning its fifth straight AFC East division title because the roster took some sizable hits in the offseason.

But the Bills are scoffing at everyone two weeks into the season as they followed their narrow escape against Arizona in Week 1 with a 31-10 thrashing of the Miami Dolphins , a beatdown in every respect against a team they simply have dominated for going on eight straight years.

This was Buffalo’s 14th win in 16 games against Miami counting the playoffs since Sean McDermott became head coach in 2017, and as he almost always does, McDermott and his newly-appointed defensive coordinator Bobby Babich schooled Miami’s supposed offensive genius Mike McDaniel.

The defense intercepted three Tua Tagovailoa passes, two by JaMarcus Ingram including a gut-punch 31-yard pick-six early in the third quarter that essentially ended the game.

Tagovailoa’s first of two interceptions in the first quarter caromed off receiver Grant DuBose and landed in the arms of Ingram who returned it 25 yards to the Dolphins 37. The Bills were quickly confronted with a fourth-and-3 and McDermott decided to gamble and it paid off as Josh Allen read a blitz from the left and tossed a pass into the vacated area to James Cook who scooted 17 yards untouched to the end zone for a quick 7-0 lead.

The Dolphins answered with an easy 70-yard drive to Tagovailoa’s five-yard TD pass to De’Von Achane, but after a Buffalo three-and-out, Tagovailoa overthrew Robbie Chosen and Christian Benford made the interception at the Miami 44. That led to a 43-yard Tyler Bass field goal.

And what was so impressive about this defensive masterclass is that the Bills did it without nickel corner Taron Johnson , and then without leading tackler Terrel Bernard as the linebacker suffered a pectoral muscle injury early in the first quarter.

This on top of not having star linebacker Matt Milano , yet none of that mattered.

Following a punt, the Bills started a possession at their own 15, and they needed only eight plays to push their lead to 17-7. Khalil Shakir caught a 21-yard pass over the middle and absorbed a hit to the helmet by ex-Bill Jordan Poyer that tacked on 15 more yards.

Later, facing third-and-12 from the 34, Allen was flushed out of the pocket and just when it looked like he would tuck it and run, he pulled up and fired a dime to Ty Johnson for a 33-yard gain, and Cook scored on the next play.

Next came a turnover on downs as Ed Oliver sacked Tagovailoa on a fourth-and-2 at the Miami 49 and on the very next play, Cook ripped off a touchdown run, his third score of the half, tying a Bills record for most TDs in a first half, giving Buffalo a 24-7 cushion.

Miami was able to get a 34-yard Jason Sanders field goal before the half ended, but at 24-10 and getting the ball to start the third quarter, the Bills were in firm control.

However, they failed to do anything after receiving the second-half kickoff, so the Dolphins had a chance to get right back into it, but Tagovailoa made another egregious mistake. Pressured by AJ Epenesa on a third down, he tried to throw the ball away but he didn’t get it to the left sideline and the ball floated right to Ingram who returned it 31 yards for a touchdown.

Tagovailoa then had the Dolphins on the move, but while scrambling for a first down in the red zone, he smashed into the chest of Damar Hamlin, then banged his head on the ground and suffered a concussion , not good given his history with head injuries.

If the game wasn’t over on the Ingram play, it was once Tagovailoa exited and Skylar Thompson was sacked on fourth down to kill that possession, then couldn’t get much of anything going thereafter.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills continue dominance of Dolphins with beatdown on Thursday Night Football