Dolphins-Bills Week 9 Instant Takeaways

Tua Tagovailoa and De'Von Achane shined in a back-and-forth game that unfortunately came out wrong at the end for the Miami Dolphins.

Miami Dolphins running back De'Von Achane (28) runs past Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Austin Johnson (98) in the second quarter at Highmark Stadium. / Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

What stood out in the Miami Dolphins Week 9 game against the Buffalo Bills?

We'll start with the inactive list, highlighted by five players out because of injuries:

• DT Zach Sieler (eye)
• S Jevon Holland (knee)
• CB Kader Kohou (neck)
• CB Storm Duck (ankle)
• TE Julian Hill (shoulder)

Also inactive were RB Jeff Wilson, Jr. and OL Andrew Meyer.

The Dolphins did not have an emergency third quarterback for a second consecutive game.

Rookie fifth-round pick Mohamed Kamara was active for only the second time this season.

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GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

There's no sugarcoating it: This was another crushing loss in a game that the Dolphins competed in and easily could have won.

We've said it before — there's just bad karma around this team, which seems to find a different way to lose every week.

While it's easy to complain about the defense not stopping Buffalo in the second half, the reality is this was always going to be a game the offense needed to win. And the offense was great in the second half after not being quite good enough in the first half.

Props to Tua Tagovailoa, who was really, really good and executed a great game-tying drive late in the fourth quarter.

Props to De'Von Achane, who had another great all-around game as the undisputed new No. 1 back.

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FIRST QUARTER

Chop Robinson made a quick contribution when his pressure forced a Josh Allen incompletion on third down of the first drive. It was impressive how quickly Robinson got around Pro Bowl tackle Dion Dawkins.

After his "eating chips on the couch" comments, the last thing Tua Tagovailoa wanted was to drop an easy shotgun snap, but here we were on the first drive — and that one was much easier than the one against Arizona. That play killed Miami's first drive.

After the drive stalled, Jake Bailey flubbed a punt, and the 29-yard return after a high bounce gave Buffalo the ball at the 37 — yet another example of the special teams hurting and not helping the Dolphins.

Another reminder of how fortunate the Dolphins were that nobody signed Emmanuel Ogbah when he was without a team in the summer came when Josh Allen attempted a QB sweep on third-and-3 at the end of the drive. Ogbbah split the block and dropped Allen for a 7-yard loss while playing with a bicep tear.

It was a really tough opening quarter for Durham Smythe, given a bigger role with Hill missing the game. He committed a false start and then got pushed backward when the Dolphins had Raheem Mostert run on third-and-1.

The Dolphins caught a break when Bills safety Taylor Rapp was flagged for unnecessary roughness for helmet-to-helmet contact with Raheem Mostert when replays showed Mostert lowered his head and was the one who initiated the contact. As we always say, sometimes you get calls, sometimes you don't.

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SECOND QUARTER

In a tied 3-3 game, the Dolphins got the kind of play they would need from their defense when Allen threw a perfect pass on a slant to Keon Coleman, but he let the ball bounce off his shoulder, and Jalen Ramsey fought him off on the carom for his first interception of the season.

The Dolphins then went on a super 14-play touchdown drive that gave them the lead and took 8:21 off the clock. The drive featured ten runs plus a shovel pass to tight end Jonnu Smith.

It was disappointing that the Dolphins gave up a field goal drive to close out the first half, but they were lucky to benefit from a couple of shaky calls against Buffalo. The most egregious was a holding against Dawkins when Robinson fell in front of him, and he merely pushed him down.

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THIRD QUARTER

The second half started with Raheem Mostert gaining 7 yards on a run and a 15-yard completion, but on the next play, the Dolphins' fumbling problem surfaced again when Taron Johnson punched the ball out of Mostert's grasp, and the Bills recovered. While that's a good play by Johnson, the Dolphins' offensive players need to protect the ball better.

The turnover helped Buffalo gain some momentum and set the stage for the back-and-forth second half.

Since we praised Ogbah earlier, we have to point out that he bit too hard inside on a run, and Ty Johnson bounced outside for a 17-yard gain.

Calais Campbell made his presence felt throughout the game, including getting great penetration on a run by James Cook, where he couldn't bring him down before Buffalo scored on a fourth-and-1 completion to former Dolphins wide receiver Mack Hollins.

The Dolphins responded as they did throughout the second half, showing the kind of fight that Jordan Poyer questioned in the summer. The biggest play on the drive was a 28-yard hook-up between Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill.

The defense relinquished the lead very quickly when a bad breakdown left running back Ray Davis wide open in the flat. He easily juked Marcus Maye in the open field to complete the 63-yard touchdown.

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FOURTH QUARTER

After the third quarter finished with a 27-yard completion to Hill on a nice throw by Tagovailoa, the Dolphins came back once again, tying the score on Achane's 8-yard touchdown run.

The defense, though, again couldn't stop the Buffalo defense, starting with three straight completions of 10 yards or more.

The touchdown drive was kept alive after Siran Neal was flagged for defensive holding on a third-and-goal from the seven-yard line.

The Dolphins' tying drive was Tua at his best, with a pretty 12-yard completion to Jaylen Waddle near the sideline.

The touchdown catch was another great play by Tua when he bought time in the pocket before firing a sidearm strike to Waddle. Mike McDaniel made an interesting choice to kick the extra point for a 27-27 tie instead of going for two.

Buffalo's final drive started off great for the defense, with Robinson and Calais Campbell teaming up for a sack, which was followed by an incompletion that made it third-and-14.

But Robinson made a bad rookie mistake when he gave Buffalo a free 5 yards with a neutral zone infraction.

That wasn't as bad as the next play, though, which became the killer for the Dolphins. And it's easy to complain about the roughness penalty against Jordan Poyer, but the replay clearly showed helmet-to-helmet contact.

And then, just because it's that kind of season for the Dolphins, Tyler Bass just crushed his 61-yard field goal attempt after struggling pretty much all season.

And so, the Dolphins were left with another loss in a game where they battled and easily could have won.