'We Showed Heart!' Why Bills Heartbreaker vs. Dolphins Could Be Blessing

The Buffalo Bills looked mortal on Sunday in South Beach. It might've been the best thing that could happen to them.

Let's get one thing out of the way: the Buffalo Bills were going to lose a game this season. 

That seemed impossible from the way they opened the year, treating both the defending Super Bowl champions and AFC top seed like they were Football Championship Subdivision cupcakes. But the simple fact of the matter is that no NFL team is ever going undefeated again ... for a plethora of reasons, not the least of which being the 17th game making things that much harder ... and this year's Bills are no exception.

Perhaps some didn't see it happening so early and much more likely didn't foresee the defeat coming in such dramatic fashion: the Bills' 21-19 loss to the Miami Dolphins will likely hold lasting power over a football-loving public because not of their on-field play ... though there's plenty to discuss there ... but because offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey was one fist in the wall away from going full Andy Bernard on Hard Rock Stadium's coaching booth.

The fact of the matter is that the Bills lost a football game, one that would relegate them to the final AFC wild card if the season inexplicably ended after three games. Having it come to a divisional rival on the shores of South Beach, which withstood a Bills Mafia invasion and frequent bullying from the Josh Allen era, only adds to the shock Buffalo (2-1) will feel as it prepares to pick up the pieces in time for another Sunday road game, this one coming in Baltimore (1 p.m. ET, CBS). 

But from a mental perspective ... Sunday's loss perhaps could go down as one of the finer things to happen to the franchise. 

Bills Find Sunshine State's Silver Lining

At the risk of sounding like the first eponymous protagonist's father from "Calvin & Hobbes," losses like Sunday's affair build character. 

Buffalo is, perhaps, tired of so many character-building losses in recent seasons, namely those that come on January evenings in Kansas City. Many certainly saw the Bills standing as one of the AFC's most prominent Super Bowl contenders but it's not like they've been one of the long-standing lords of the American: they did lose six games last season, one of which was a 9-6 snoozer to lowly Jacksonville. 

But this new type of Floridian loss is different: for the first time, the post-Tom Brady monopoly they've established in the AFC East is under legitimate attack. The regular season now carries a theme of fight and redemption, one that now has to withstand the attack of a deadly offensive threat in their relative home. Miami's Sunday statement ... one that not only showcased new, lasting offensive weaponry like Jaylen Waddle but also held the mighty Bills' offense to 19 points ... serves one step closer to proving that their resistance to Buffalo supremacy is legitimate and not a passing fad like the New England affair appears to be. 

Fortunately for Western New York, the Bills seem more than happy to embrace the character challenge in a surprisingly optimistic locker room after being dealt one of the more painful losses in recent franchise memory.

"All we care about is football and winning games and a loss like this early in games is good medicine. Adversity like this truly reveals character and we have a team full of tough guys," linebacker Von Miller told the team's official site. "This is all just adversity and I'm excited to see how we respond. Real men respond to things like this and I'm excited to see how we respond."

"There's so much football ahead of us," tight end Dawson Knox added in the same report. "I think this can be a great focal point for us moving forward just to see the fight that we have in us."

Buffalo's Depth Stars

One of the talking points the Bills will inevitably have to deal with is whether some major injuries ... not least of which is the newly confirmed season-ending affliction of Micah Hyde ... and whether Buffalo will be able to weather such a storm. 

But the Bills have built their early empire on depth and a cliched but well-run next-man-up mentality. Sunday's game, despite the loss, was no exception. 

The Bills were already hurting, with Hyde joined by the already-known-to-be lost Tre'Davious White and Dane Jackson. Miami heat further depleted the team, knocking out several starters at a time and even some of those called upon to replace the original fallen (i.e. Christian Benford) were forced to the sidelines. 

Nonetheless, some unexpected parties helped keep the Bills in the game, even when the team was nowhere near its maximum firepower. Greg Rosseau and Damar Hamlin stepped it up in the pass rush game while Isaiah McKenzie and Devin Singletary broke out as the team's leading receivers when cramps at up at the aerial corps.

In not as many words as potentially necessary, Knox seemed to hint at an uncomfortable truth for the rest of the league: if this the depleted Bills at their potential worst, the gridiron world has no interest in seeing them at their best. 

"I think (Sunday is) just a testament to my teammates," the tight end told The Buffalo News. "Guys jumping up, playing positions they never played and showing that we've got some real heart out there, to have that many guys down and battle like that in an environment like this. It's hard to prepare for 90-degree humidity in Buffalo."

"But again, we don't want to use any excuses. I think there is a lot to learn on film and I think there is a lot to learn from this game. But also, it's kind of a positive thing looking at the type of heart this team has moving forward."

You can follow Geoff Magliocchetti on Twitter @GeoffJMags 

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