The Miami Dolphins accomplished a major goal defeating the New England Patriots 33-20 in the opening game of the season and there was jubilation throughout South Florida.
Carrying that momentum to New York, the Dolphins played their week two game against the Buffalo Bills. This game looked like a flashback of the game they played last year — which was terrible.
After playing so well in their opening game, the Dolphins regressed. The Bills defeated their AFC East rivals 29-10.
Even though this was a pretty bad loss, it is not time to panic. Not even close. The season has only just begun.
Speed Kills
The biggest weapon the Buffalo Bills had during their game against the Dolphins was their speed.
Having three receivers (Marquise Goodwin, Robert Woods and Sammy Watkins) that run faster than a 4.5 speed is deadly.
The one receiver that impressed the most from the trio was Watkins. During the game he finished with eight catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. The box score does not tell the complete story though.
In this game, Watkins was routinely wide open. He was forced to lunge to attempt to catch terrible passes thrown to him, in addition to dropping a few passes. If he would have connected on some messed up plays, Watkins easily would have had over 200 yards receiving.
Regardless of the flubs in the Bills offense, Watkins still torched the Dolphins. Cornerback Brent Grimes was doing everything in his power to not let it happen but it did not matter. Watkins won this bout between the two and it wasn’t even fair.
Speaking of not being fair…
The Bills Defense
Entering week two, one of the most quiet storylines of this game was the defense of the Bills. They are nasty, ferocious and are incredibly talented. This is the same defense the forced the Chicago Bears into three turnovers a week ago.
Continuing their trend, the Bills forced two Dolphins turnovers, including a forced fumble and an interception (near the end of the game). The Bills were really impressive on third down though. The Dolphins only had five third down conversions.
One of the reasons why the Dolphins were held to 10 points in the game is because of the pressure that Ryan Tannehill faced. The Bills defensive line was energetic and hyped up for this matchup as they took advantage of the Dolphins offensive line.
The defense for the Bills recorded five hits on the quarterback, four sacks, nine tackles for losses and they batted away 10 passes.
The
men
monsters on the defensive line played like they were on fire. Jerry Hughes, Kyle Williams and Mario Williams were active in this game and each of them got a sack.
Tannehill never felt comfortable the entire game and it showed. At times Tannehill had to scramble to attempt to pick up yardage on plays, but then would get driven down to the ground after a gain of a few yards.
This Bills defense was not playing around and continued to take it to the Dolphins as they did last season.
Glimmer of Hope
Though the Dolphins didn’t play well most of this game, there was still a glimmer of hope. With the injury of Knowshon Moreno it devastated the Dolphins ability to run the football. Running back Lamar Miller stepped in during the absence of Moreno, and contributed 46 yards on the ground on 11 carries.
What that injury did for the Dolphins was force their quarterback to trust in his receivers a lot more.
Though Tannehill was under duress most of the game, it was impressive the way he responded to the adversity. Tannehill completed 31 passes, lead the Dolphins to 23 first downs, and threw for 241 yards leaving Buffalo with a 73.6 QBR.
The one impressive throw was the lone touchdown of the day when he completed a strike to Mike Wallace.
It looks as if those two are getting more in sync and that is always an encouraging sign.
Redemption
This game was about more than a victory, it was about defeating a rival who has wronged you in the past. Last season the Bills nearly eliminated the Dolphins from playoff contention with their home 19-0 shutout.
This year though, the Dolphins had a chance to make a statement and add one more win total to their rivalry against the Bills and hold a lead for the AFC East division. Instead of the Dolphins notching their 57th win, the Bills added their 40th win in the annual two game series.
Next game up for the Dolphins is the Kansas City Chiefs at home.
If they do not win that…its time to panic.