Dolphins-Bills Week 17 Highlights and Lowlights

Breaking down the big plays and big moments in the Miami Dolphins Week 17 matchup against Buffalo

A look at the highlights and lowlights for the Miami Dolphins in their Week 17 game against the Buffalo Bills:

HIGHLIGHTS

FIRST HALF

-- Emmanuel Ogbah's penetration disrupted a Buffalo running play, leading to Andrew Van Ginkel's tackle for loss against Devin Singletary.

-- Van Ginkel beat tackle Dion Dawkins to come up the middle and drop Josh Allen for an 11-yard sack.

-- Byron  Jones' second interception of the season was brilliant as he read a pass to the outside, bobbled it for a second, then dragged his right foot to stay in bounds as he completed the catch. Kudos to Brian Flores for challenging the initial ruling of an incomplete pass.

-- Tua Tagovailoa's first pass was a safe, effective 11-yard completion to Durham Smythe off a bootleg.

-- Jason Sanders helped the Dolphins cash in on the turnover by nailing a 49-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.

-- The Dolphins stopped Buffalo's second drive when Eric Rowe had good coverage deep downfield against tight end Dawson Knox.

-- The Dolphins produced a three-and-out on Buffalo's third possession with good pressure and good coverage downfield on third-and-4.

-- Tight end Adam Shaheen picked up an easy 23-yard completion when he caught a pass at the line with no defender around him.

-- The Dolphins' biggest play of the first half came when Lynn Bowden Jr. took a backward pass from Tua and then threw a screen pass across the field to Myles Gaskin, who raced downfield behind a wall of blockers to gain 32 yards all the way to the Buffalo 9-yard line.

-- Sanders made it 2-for-2 with a 31-yard field goal late in the first half.

SECOND HALF

-- Tua came out firing in the second half, completing five consecutive passes. Four of them were to DeVante Parker, including a nifty 25-yard hook-up where Parker won a jump ball against cornerback Josh Norman.

-- Gaskin capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown after Norman was flagged for DPI against Parker on fourth-and-goal from the 5.

-- Van Ginkel helped end Buffalo's first drive of the half when he sniffed out a reverse to Isaiah McKenzie and dropped the wide receiver for a 3-yard loss.

-- Tua converted a fourth-and-1 when he kept on a RPO and dove beyond the first-down marker.

-- Xavien Howard tied the franchise record with his 10th interception of the season late in the third quarter.

-- Parker made a nice twisting grab near the sideline to bring down a 31-yard pass from Tua.

-- One play after Tua had  a 23-yard completion to Mike Gesicki, Salvon Ahmed burst through a big hole on a draw play to score on a 16-yard touchdown run.

-- The Dolphins scored the last points of the game when Tagovailoa hit rookie Malcolm Perry with a 25-yard touchdown pass, the rookie's first NFL touchdown.

LOWLIGHTS

-- The Dolphins' threat after the Byron Jones interception ended when an apparent premature snap led to early pressure and forced an incompletion, which was followed by the offensive line letting Tremaine Edmunds come in free on a blitz to drop Tua for a 9-yard loss. Buffalo had two blitzers on the right side of the offensive line and rookie Robert Hunt picked up the outside blitzer.

-- The Dolphins' second drive began with a false start penalty on tight end Durham Smythe.

-- Tagovailoa had a nice completion near the sideline to DeVante Parker on third-and-9, but he had to come back for the catch and was pushed out of bounds a half-yard short of the first down.

-- Matt Haack's first punt went for only 32 yards, allowing the Bills to begin their third drive at their 39.

-- The Dolphins caught a bad break when a Buffalo punt bounced around the 5-yard line, but took such an angle as to go out of bounds inside the 1-yard line, which kind of handcuffed the next possession.

-- Stefon Diggs got back-to-back completions against Xavien Howard, first on a simple hook good for 8 yards and then on a slant for 18 yards. Diggs was pretty open on both plays.

-- Buffalo took the lead on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Allen to Isaiah McKenzie when McKenzie easily beat Needham to the corner of the end zone.

-- The Dolphins' ensuing drive ended after a third-and-10 wide receiver screen picked up only 3 yards.

-- The problems with Diggs continued in the second quarter and it got worse after he gained 16 yards when Christian Wilkins was flagged for a late hit and an additional 15.

-- Buffalo's second touchdown came on a free third-and-4 play after Zach Sieler jumped offside when McKenzie worked himself free from Needham in the back of the end zone for a 14-yard score.

-- After the Dolphins' next series ended with a three-and-out, McKenzie scored his third touchdown of the half on an 84-yard punt return, continuing a rough first half for the special teams.

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-- The Dolphins' attempt at a jet sweep on second-and-goal from the 7 backfired badly when Bowden was thrown for a 6-yard loss, setting up a third-and-goal from the 13.

-- After their field goal cut their deficit to 21-6, the Dolphins watched Buffalo drive 75 yards on four plays to make it 28-6 with completions of 16 yards to Diggs and 27 and 32 yards to John Brown, who got behind Byron Jones in the end zone.

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-- The Dolphins couldn't mount a late drive in the first half, instead going three-and-out.

SECOND HALF

-- With Josh Allen out of the game, the second play of Buffalo's first drive of the second half was an 18-yard run by rookie Antonio Williams, who was elevated from the practice squad Saturday.

-- The Dolphins found themselves in a bigger hole when Parker fell while jostling with cornerback Josh Norman a few yards downfield and Norman took advantage to make an easy pick and return it 16 yards for a touchdown that made it 35-13.

- The Dolphins' next drive ended with two incompletions, including a fourth-down throw where Parker didn't create any separation from Norman.

-- Safety Eric Rowe got beat by tight end Dawson Knox for a 20-yard gain despite having good coverage when Knox slowed down to adjust to the underthrown pass and Rowe overran the play.

-- Howard was beaten deep down the right sideline for a 51-yard completion from Barkley to Gabriel Davis early in the fourth quarter.

-- Bills rookie Antonio Williams ran through the defense for a way-too-easy 18-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

-- On the next play from scrimmage, Tua overshot Mike Gesicki down the middle of the field for an easy second pick for Dean Marlowe, and three plays later Williams was back in the end zone.

-- Mack Hollins fumbled the ball after making a short reception, and the Bills capitalized immediately when Davis got behind Needham and hauled in a 56-yard touchdown pass from Barkley.

-- The Dolphins had a handful of dropped passes in the fourth quarter alone.