Bills' top 5 and bottom 5 PFF grades from dominant Week 2 win over the Dolphins

We look at the Buffalo Bills' top five and bottom five PFF grades from their dominant Week 2 win over the Miami Dolphins.

Ronnie Eastham | Sep 15, 2024

Sep 12, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott reacts after the game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

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After each Buffalo Bills game of the 2024 NFL season, we'll share PFF grades for the top and bottom five players. We'll also throw in a few honorable, or perhaps not-so-honorable mentions, too. Keep in mind these grades are not without questions, disagreement, and are certainly not the end all be all of a player's performance, but they're still interesting.

Just a bit of clarification before going any further: PFF grades every player regardless of whether they played one snap or all the snaps, so a player with only a few snaps isn't going to have a very large sample size, so let's throw those out; however, we reserve the right to mention them if something stands out. That said, to make the list, the player needs to have played roughly a third of the total snaps.

Let's get this started, here are your best and worst PFF grades from the Bills' Week 2 win over the Miami Dolphins.

Top 5 Bills' PFF grades

Buffalo Bills, Von Miller, Tua Tagovailoa

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Von Miller - Edge - 90.7

All summer, there were questions about Von Miller's health and if he could return to his former self before his 2022 knee injury. After two weeks, Miller has two sacks, recording one in each contest. Against the Dolphins, Miller had four total pressures, giving him nine on the season. If Miller can maintain this level of play, it will be huge for the Bills going forward and into the playoffs.

Dalton Kincaid - TE - 87.8

A lot was made about Dalton Kincaid's perceived absence last week against the Arizona Cardinals, but the Cardinals were keying on him and in some cases had three guys shading coverage his way. This week against Miami, he was targeted four times, turning all four into receptions for 33 yards. After two weeks, Kincaid has an overall PFF grade of 74.2 and is perfect with five receptions on five targets for 44 yards.

James Cook - RB - 87.3

Cook had one of the most productive games of his career, totaling three touchdowns before halftime. He had two on the ground and one in the air, including an incredible 49-yard touchdown run. Cook finished the game with 95 total yards. One big positive through the first two weeks is Cook has caught all of his targets, turning four targets into receptions and 49 total yards.

Ed Oliver - DT - 81.2

Ed Oliver's name wasn't called much against the Cardinals, but he showed up in Week 2. Last week, PFF gave him an overall grade of 40.4; he returned to form in the Miami game, however, earning a grade of 81.2. He had his first sack of the season and three total pressures this week.

Christian Benford - CB - 78.8

Benford is quickly becoming one of the top corners and his physical play is causing headaches for opposing receivers. He recorded his first interception of the 2024 season in Week 2 and has been targeted by opposing quarterbacks ten times. What might be the most impressive stat though, when targeted he allows a passer rating of only 8.3.

Bottom 5 Bills' PFF grades

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Dion Dawkins/Baylon Spector - LT/LB - 51.5

There was a tie between Dawkins and Spector for the fifth-lowest PFF grade. It's interesting to see Dawkins graded this low given how dominant the Bills' offensive line was in this game, but more on that later. As far as Spector goes, his grade is a bit concerning since he will undoubtedly get a lot of playing time over the next month, maybe longer, with Terrel Bernard's pectoral injury. That said, with full practices with the ones, hopefully he'll improve as the weeks progress and won't become a liability. This season he's been in on 62 total snaps, recording 11 total tackles but also has two missed tackles and allows a 101 passer rating when targeted.

O'Cyrus Torrence - OG - 48.1

You will notice a recurring theme with this bottom five when it comes to offensive linemen. This is the second game in a row that Torrence has earned a PFF grade below 50; however, this week was an improvement over last week's 35.1 grade. He gave up only one pressure against Miami, didn't commit any penalties, and allowed no sacks. His overall grade is being brought down by his run block grade, which is much harder to measure but based on the 4.2 yards per carry average, which includes two kneel downs for -2 yards by Mitchell Trubisky, you should be too concerned.

DeWayne Carter - DT - 46.7

Carter has only played 33 snaps this season, but 25 came against the Dolphins, which was roughly a third of the total defensive snaps. The positive here is getting the rookie in the game and earning those important snaps to gain experience. The Bills will need Carter to play a significant role this season and the more time on the field they can get him in these blowout games, the better in the long term.

David Edwards - OG - 44.7

Here we are with another offensive lineman on the bottom five. PFF's grading process is notoriously guarded and mysterious, but you shouldn't be too concerned with the offensive line grades given how dominant they have been through two games. Edwards earned a PFF grade of 75.0 in Week 1 but his run grade, similar to Torrence's, brings his overall down. Edwards has allowed only two total pressures and no sacks this season. He also hasn't committed any penalties.

Dorian Williams - LB - 43.4

Oh boy, the Bills' starting linebackers for the next month or more are two of the lowest-graded players on the team. That's a bad sign, but they will get better as the season progresses. Getting all the snaps as the starters in practice will pay massive dividends down the road. One thing that stands out with both Williams and Spector is their physical style of play. They might make mistakes but they aren't afraid to attack, and that's a good thing. The knowledge and understanding of what offenses are trying to do will improve with time.

Final thoughts on PFF grades from Week 2

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It would be very wrong not to mention Ja'Marcus Ingram this week. While he didn't sneak into PFF's top five graded players, he was close with a 76.2. His two interceptions were the first two of his career and he became the first University at Buffalo product to record two picks in an NFL game. The Bills have incredible depth at the corner position.

All five of the Bills' starting five on the offensive line earned PFF grades below 59.0. Connor McGovern had the best grade of the five at 58.7. Despite this, the line has not allowed a sack of Josh Allen and continues to open holes in the running game. The pre-snap penalties have been a little bit of an issue early on, but the line (and general team) took only one penalty in Week 2, which is an encouraging sign moving forward.

Lastly, we should mention two rookies, receiver Keon Coleman and safety Cole Bishop. Coleman seemed non-existent this week but remember, he's only 21 and starting his second career game. He was also largely blanketed by Jalen Ramsey, one of the best corners in the league. PFF gave him a grade of 53.4 against the Dolphins; however, he had a solid grade of 68.8 last week. Lastly, we finally got a glimpse of Bishop this week, albeit a very small sample size of only six snaps, but he made the most of them earning a grade of 85.9. His pass breakup in the endzone late in the game stands out and was an outstanding play.

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