Game 17 thoughts: Dolphins at Bills

With the playoffs on the line, the Dolphins traveled to Buffalo today and got completely embarrassed in every phase of the game.  The season is now over for Miami, and we begin to focus on the offseason.

The game began on a high note, as the Dolphins came away with a turnover on the Bills’ opening drive.  Andrew Van Ginkel had a sack for a loss of 11 yards, and two plays later Byron Jones got an INT.  Jones snatched the ball right at the sideline and did a sweet toe drag.  It was initially called incomplete/out of bounds, but Coach Flores challenged and won.  The Phins’ offense managed a first down, but then were forced to kick a FG after an early snap on 2nd down that messed up the play’s timing and a sack on 3rd down as the right side of the OL got blown up.  I hate settling for 3 points, but they were able to get points after a turnover, which is always a good thing.  Unfortunately, that was the last good thing that happened for the Phins.

The Bills' O looked confused on their first 3 drives, but they woke up on drive 4, shredding the Miami D on a short field and scoring an easy TD to take the lead 7-3.   The Dolphins had gone 3 and out on the previous drive, which began inside their own 1-yard line.

The game was essentially over after that Buffalo TD drive, as the Dolphin offense disappeared, the defense got absolutely destroyed and special teams sucked.

Yes, in the biggest game of the season, the entire team and coaching staff got thoroughly and completely embarrassed.

On offense, Tua couldn’t do anything, the OL gave up pressure on nearly every single pass play and the running game was non-existent.  Three and outs and failed third down conversions were the order of the day.

On defense, there was zero pass rush and the highly-paid secondary couldn’t cover anyone.  Josh Allen and all his receivers – led by Stefon Diggs, but also Isaiah McKenzie, John Brown and Gabriel Davis – played pitch-and-catch the entire first half.  Allen had all day to throw to his wide-open receivers and finished the first half with 224 yards and 3 TDs.  It was just a pathetic performance by a Miami defense that looked more like #32 in the league instead of #1.

Special teams sucked.  Matt Haack shanked a punt early, and the return team allowed an 84-yard TD.

And that was all the first half.  The second half really isn’t worth discussing…just more of the same, except the Bills’ backups and practice squad players were the ones kicking Miami’s ass after the half and Tua and his receivers just played worse and worse.

And there you have it – outplayed, outcoached, outclassed in a horrific one-sided loss.  A 10-6 season is great, but it is beyond disappointing to see the season end the way it did.   Heading into the offseason, the Dolphins need OL and playmakers on offense, and pass rush and LBs on defense.  The coaching staff needs to be upgraded with an offensive coordinator that knows how to use Tua.  The future remains bright with a ton of draft picks and cap space, but GM Chris Grier needs a monster offseason to get this team to the next level.   The lack of playmakers up and down the roster is glaringly obvious.  I am still proud of what this no-name roster accomplished this season, but today was just an embarrassing, piss-poor effort by a team that simply isn’t ready to run with the big dogs.


Hero of the Game:  Andrew Van Ginkel and Jason Sanders.  They were the only players that actually showed up today.

Goat of the Game: Everyone other than Jason Sanders, including the entire coaching staff.  This was a pathetic performance in all 3 phases of the game, and it was a total team breakdown.

Beer of the Game: none – didn’t drink today.  Thank God – watching this crap game, I might have broken my TV if I was drinking.

Very disappointing. I thought we were beyond this. I can't even talk about it anymore.

We're looking at another huge roster turnover in the offseason. Real curious to see what they do in free agency and the draft. I'm all about adding playmakers, but that has never really been Grier's MO...so it will be very interesting to see what happens.

I was remembering the Jacksonville asskicking. Marino retired and the downfall started with Wanny and Feidler.

JEGnj wrote:I was remembering the Jacksonville asskicking. Marino retired and the downfall started with Wanny and Feidler.

Yep, I was thinking about that game too. Hopefully this time it's a wake-up call for the organization. This is the most important offseason in franchise history. We have a real opportunity to build a contender...can they do it???

Gutless performance. Shameful. I am rooting for the Colts. Don't need to be embarrassed next week too.

It’s all about the QB. The problem that currently presents its self is do we have a franchise player in Tua? It’s not often a team has back to back years of top ten picks.

I have no issue with 2 first round QB’s battling it out for the starting position.

It’s okay. A playoff berth with this squad would be meaningless.

Let’s all face the facts it’s a pretty good season to get ten wins but we have serious flaws. OL not good enough, pass rush not good enough and those at the least are real problems. Playmakers on offense a close second.

I’d take someone like Allen Robinson at WR and draft Sewell to anchor LT. Kick Jackson inside I think Flowers is not good enough

SICKENING!!! DISGUSTING!!! NAUSEATING!!!

Here's a list of all the sad parts just off the top of my head. 1. The Fins and Bills entered the game with the exact same season point differential. 2. Half the Browns have the virus and they still won because the Steelers rested their starters but 3. this team completely implodes because ONE GUY gets it. Also 4. This "expanded playoffs" could very well see a 6-win team get in while a 10-win team gets left out, so what the hell good did it really do?

Believe it or not I was actually having a good two weeks before today. But I had a bad vibe about this game and this day from the start.

The pass defense was horrendous today. It all starts up-front, and we generated almost zero pressure today. Ogbah did almost nothing in the second half of the season after a hot start, and AVG can only do so much by himself. We desperately need pass rushers.

I'm totally on-board with Tua. I like what I saw this season overall, and as he continues to grow and we surround him with talent, I think he's the answer. Today was just a total team loss and Tua was a part of it, but in half a season he showed a lot of good things, enough for me to feel confident in him moving forward.

We will have the #3 pick in the draft. I'm completely on board with trading down - not too far - and then taking WR and RB in the first. We still need to build the OL, but that can be done later in the draft. Alternatively, if we do stay at 3 I'd just take Smith and not look back...no need to get cute, just get a playmaker.

Totally get it DF let’s face the hard fact: the Bills are good. Very good. I would not be at all surprised if they make it to the Super Bowl they are playing that well.

Our offense has not been good all year. No, Fitz has not been and will never be the answer. What’s killing us is we are one dimensional on offense and we have very little talent at the skill positions.

Let’s not repeat our mistake with Tannehill who is looking just fine in Tenn. let’s continue to focus on the offensive line and running game to complement our defense. We cannot run it well enough and it’s crippling the whole team

I think we had about 7 dropped passes today, plus the Hollins fumble.  We need receivers in the worst way...it's embarrassing to trot this group of garbage onto the field each week.

The young guys on OL will get better, but yes, we still need to bolster the line.  A decision will have to be made at center, with Karras becoming a free agent.  I would love an upgrade - but that is easier said than done...center is a tough position to fill.

And we need a completely new RB room.  Keep Gaskin, and I don't care what happens with any of the others.  Bring in a legit workhorse back.

We have the resources to turn this offense around overnight...just have to make the right decisions.

white1 wrote:Totally get it DF let’s face the hard fact: the Bills are good. Very good. I would not be at all surprised if they make it to the Super Bowl they are playing that well.

Our offense has not been good all year. No, Fitz has not been and will never be the answer. What’s killing us is we are one dimensional on offense and we have very little talent at the skill positions.

Let’s not repeat our mistake with Tannehill who is looking just fine in Tenn. let’s continue to focus on the offensive line and running game to complement our defense. We cannot run it well enough and it’s crippling the whole team

All I know is that this team was running better than it had all season until today and with Fitz out they lost by three times as much as their previous biggest margin of defeat. IMO the players know what's up. They know Fitz has it all over Tua and when they found out he couldn't go it absolutely deflated them. It's the only explanation that makes sense. This same team lost by only 3 to the Bills earlier and by only 6 to the mighty Chiefs, but they get hammered today by more than they have since the start of LAST season? Come on now.

Also, parting ways with Tannehill was NOT a mistake. He had shown absolutely nothing in 7 years and simply could not keep getting paid by a team in dire cap trouble at that time. The Titans didn't think he was anything special either, they only brought him in to back up Mariota.

Very well said it’s a good debate. My argument is that terrible head coaches were the problem with Tannehill. Gase has proven that beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Bills have improved like all good teams do with good head coaches. We still have a rookie QB. Remember Allen his rookie year? Not impressive at all. Their margin of victory today shows they continue to okay better while our offense continues to struggle with rookies across the board at QB line and receiver.

We will be fine. I know we have the right coach. We have the right QB. We need to improve the talent on this roster and continue what’s been started. I’m confident we will see improvement yet again next year.

We ran good against the Raiders and Pats - two of the league's worst run defenses.  Didn't do anything all that impressive in the run game in the other 14 games.

With a (usually) strong defense, we need a balanced attack.  Need to control the clock, get first downs and score TDs. 

Losing Fitz had nothing to do with today's outcome - nothing at all.  The defense got shredded and the offense did nothing - and we showed that we are not yet good enough to beat the #2 team in the AFC. 

But, we won 10 games in a season where a lot of people thought we'd be below .500 - and we're loaded for bear in the offseason.  I'll take it.

JMP wrote:But, we won 10 games in a season where a lot of people thought we'd be below .500 - and we're loaded for bear in the offseason.  I'll take it.

Teams that finish with a winning record and miss the playoffs have almost always regressed the next season. It even happened to this team in '04. Yes, I know there were extenuating circumstances but still. I'm pretty sure Jets fans thought they had a bright future when they finished 10-6 in '15 and they've had five losing seasons since. The Browns missed the playoffs at 10-6 in '07 and it took all the way until now for them to make it. The '04 Bills might be the team most similar to this one, missing the playoffs at 9-7 (with a +111 point differential) because they lost the finale to a 15-1 Steeler team that was resting starters. They wouldn't get into the postseason for another 13 years. 10-6 and no playoffs is actually a HORRIBLE situation to be in. Maybe the draft thing will make it okay, but there's a world out there that's rapidly changing for the worse by the week and IMO there may not even be NFL football anymore by the time summer rolls around.

It might just be my usual post-holiday depression but I was actually feeling good for 2 weeks and now I feel like I've been slapped back into cold, hard reality.

That #3 pick isn't secure just yet...Tannehill is doing his best to screw the Phins!  Titans up by only 3.

Jags hanging tough against Colts, but I certainly don't see them winning.

CarsonChris wrote:It’s all about the QB. The problem that currently presents its self is do we have a franchise player in Tua? It’s not often a team has back to back years of top ten picks.

I have no issue with 2 first round QB’s battling it out for the starting position.

I'd be right there with you if Lawrence and Fields weren't guaranteed to be the first two picks. There's no way they can take a QB at 3 under those circumstances. But IMO Tua's not the answer. He'll turn out to be just like Tannehill when it's all said and done--not horrible, but just an average game manager type.

JMP wrote:That #3 pick isn't secure just yet...Tannehill is doing his best to screw the Phins!  Titans up by only 3.

It would only be fitting that the Texans win, just to rub salt in the wound. I'm now expecting them to.

Jags hanging tough against Colts, but I certainly don't see them winning.

I can see it now...Jags take the lead with less than 2 minutes remaining only to see the Colts win on the final play or close to it. That's just how this day has gone.

Here's another reason why the "expanded playoffs" are a big flaming bag of bullshit. If the Fins had won, there was a very real possibility of an 11-5 team missing the playoffs, which has only happened twice in the last 42 years of 16-game seasons!

EDIT: I forgot about the Bears getting in at 8-8 after going 3-7 in their last ten because the Cards also lost Am I supposed to believe the Fins couldn't take them?

So again, why was this "expanded playoffs" even necessary? Oh I know, because in the 21st century everything MUST be changed--except what actually needs it.

Three days in and I already despise 2021

"Down In It" is a great song!

Anyway, I'm looking at this positively. We are headed in the right direction. We have cap space, we have two picks in the top 20 (#3 and #18), we have a coach, and we have a QB. Now, keep building!

More sad facts: before this game the Fins had allowed the fewest points in the league, but dropped to 6th when the five teams ahead of them allowed fewer points COMBINED than they did. Also, the margin of defeat in this game was only slightly less than the previous five losses combined (34).

No, I'm still not letting it go.

DolFan 316 wrote:More sad facts: before this game the Fins had allowed the fewest points in the league, but dropped to 6th when the five teams ahead of them allowed fewer points COMBINED than they did. Also, the margin of defeat in this game was only slightly less than the previous five losses combined (34).

No, I'm still not letting it go.

I think you need to let it go. We had a 10-win season, which literally NO ONE predicted, and we got our ass kicked in week 17 by what may be the top team in the AFC and maybe even the NFL. Nothing to be done about it now. Time to reload and come back stronger next season.

Excellent progress was made this year. In the end, though, not quite ready to run with the big dogs. We were 1-4 against teams that eventually made the playoffs, with the lone win against the Rams. That doesn't diminish with a roster that had quite a few holes even before the inevitable injuries. We just had less margin for error than the teams above us and it caught up with us.