Hyde: Bills dominate, Tua hurt, Hill shut down — 10 thoughts on Dolphins’ 31-10 loss to Buffalo

MIAMI GARDENS — The Buffalo Bills aren’t dead.

The Miami Dolphins aren’t ready to take their AFC East crown .

And it was worse than that. The Dolphins lost 31-10 on Thursday night in a game where the butt-kicking had the additional pain of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa going out of the game with a concussion .

All that preseason confidence?

It didn’t lead to anything this night . Here are my thoughts on the game:

1. Play of the night: It’s was the kind of play he was taught to slide on. Only Tua Tagovailoa was having the kind of night that he wanted to do something, anything, to help and so scrambled up the middle on fourth-and-4 in the third quarter and ran head-first into Damar Hamlin, of all Buffalo players. Hamlin had a near-tragic on-field incident of his own in ways a football nation followed with grave concern. Now Tagovailoa wasn’t getting up off the field until medical people were called, players had taken a knee and the worst part of a bad Dolphins night played out. He would get up. He would walk off the field and into the trainers room to be further examined . But his night went from bad with his three interceptions to worse in a way that went beyond simple football questions of this brutal loss. It was against Buffalo two years ago that started Tagovailoa’s questions with concussions. This Thursday play had all the look of more concerns with them.

2. Stat of the night: Tyreek Hill (three catches, 24 yards) and Jaylen Waddle (four catches, 41 yards) combined for 67 yards receiving. There was only one downfield throw to them, that being Waddle’s 31-yard reception late in the third quarter on the drive where Tagovailoa was hurt. They’re the engines of the Dolphins offense and Buffalo has figured how to take them out of the game. The Dolphins have scored 20, 14 and now 10 points the past three games. The uglier part is …

3. “They’re decimated on defense,’ ‘ Ryan Fitzpatrick said at halftime on Amazon Prime. He wasn’t talking about the Dolphins without Bradley Chubb. The Bills lost top tackler, linebacker Terrel Bernard, in the second quarter with a pectoral issue. That’s on top of Pro Bowl CB Taron Johnson, who was injured in the opener, and Matt Milano, who is out for the year. Hamlin isn’t a starter — but had to play as one. Cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram, another reserve and undrafted second-year player, had the first interception of his career Thursday night. And his second. You see how bad this night was for the Dolphins?

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4. Tagovailoa struggled badly before he was hurt. Ten points. Three interceptions. If the first two require a question about this roster’s problem with a third receiver, the third interception was as ugly an NFL pass as you’ll see. Under pressure early in the third quarter, he tried to throw the out of bounds but the ball didn’t come close to making it. Instead, it was a pop-up that Ingram caught with an open lane 49 yards to the end zone. That made it 31-10 and summed up a night where Tagovailoa completed 17 of 25 passes for 145 yards, one touchdown against three interceptions and a 56.7 rating.

5. Stat of the Night II: Buffalo is now 12-2 with Josh Allen against the Dolphins. They didn’t even need Allen to be Superman in this one. He completed 13 of 19 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown. Running back James Cook was the night’s big star as …

6. Buffalo took advantage of the Christian Wilkins hole in the Dolphins defense. Some of it was design issues, as three Buffalo linemen pushed defensive tackle Da’Shawn Hand back into linebacker David Little on running back James Cook’s 49-yard touchdown run that made it 24-7. Some was just everyday runs, like the back-to-back 8- and 10-yards runs up the middle on their previous possession for a touchdown. Cook was the second Buffalo player to have three touchdowns in a first half. The first was running back Thurman Thomas in 1992. Talk about nightmare flashbacks. Cook wasn’t overused. He only had 11 carries for 78 yards and one catch for a 17-yard touchdown.

7. Tagovailoa’s other two interceptions told a story of decision-making in the front office.  The first interception should’ve been the first career NFL catch by Grant Dubose for a healthy gain. Instead, he didn’t turn for the ball, it bounced off his body and the interception set up Buffalo’s first touchdown. On the second, Tagovailoa threw to Robbie Chosen and there was a costly difference of ideas. Tagovailoa seemed to think Chosen was running a deeper route. Chosen either slipped or just cut off his route. Same result, as cornerback Christian Benford intercepted and Buffalo was in business at the Dolphins 42. Buffalo only managed a field goal out of that go up 10-7. The larger question here is the Dolphins’ third-receiver situation. Everyone knew they needed help there. They signed Odell Beckham Jr. knowing, according to GM Chris Grier, he’d be sidelined for at least these opening four games. Dubose, Braxton Berrios and Robbie Chosen have had no impact in the opening two games.

8. Quick hits:

*Left tackle Terron Armstead went out of the game with an injured shoulder.

*Why was De’Vone Achane called on to carry the ball 22 times (for 96 yards) and catch seven passes (for 69 yards) in a blowout? I mean, big game for him. But this was a game to spread out the touches to Jeff Wilson and Jaylen Wright rather than possibly get Achane hurt.

*The new kick-off rule is a bust. All seven, first-half kickoffs were touchbacks in a snapshot of how it’s going.

*”Guys are pissed off we’re in this situation,” Mike McDaniel said to Amazon Prime at halftime in a cut-and-save quote for this week.

9. Next game: Dolphins at Seattle, 4:05 p.m., Sept. 22. The Dolphins make the longest continental trip to play an undefined Seattle team under first-year coach Mike McDonald. Seattle won its opener, 26-20, against Denver and plays at New England on Sunday. This is a team with minimal exVegas put an over-under of 7.5 win for the season. Seattle quarterback and Miramar product Geno Smith plays against his hometown team.

Dolphins Deep Dive: Hyde and Furones on Tua suffering another concussion; ugly loss to Bills | VIDEO

Farther and daughter Roberto and Mikaela Guzman dance salsa in the parkiong lot, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens prior to the game against the Buffalo Bills. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)