Game thoughts: Wildcard playoffs, Dolphins at Bills

I’m pretty sure that everyone on the planet predicted a blowout victory for the Bills today. Everyone on the planet, that is, except the Miami Dolphins themselves.

Though the Dolphins lost 34-31, they showed an unbelievable amount of heart in overcoming a 17-0 deficit and giving the Bills all they could handle. In the end, having an inexperienced QB proved to be too much to overcome, but the Dolphins can hang their heads high even in defeat.

For the Dolphins to have any chance at all today, priority one was limiting mistakes. So what did they do to start the game? Jaylen Waddle dropped a perfectly thrown deep pass on the opening drive that was right in his hands, and then on the second drive Skylar Thompson threw an ugly INT. Add in a defense that literally couldn’t cover anyone, and the score was 14-0 before you could blink.

Miraculously, taking advantage of 2 Josh Allen INTs, the Dolphins came back and tied the game up at 17 late in the half. Not so miraculously, with 33 seconds left the defense allowed the Bills to march downfield for a FG to retake the lead. But down 20-17 at the half? Yeah, sign me up for that!

The Dolphins got the ball first in the second half, and gained just one yard for a quick 3 and out.
And then, on the Bills first drive of the half, Eric Rowe got a strip sack, and the ball was recovered by Zach Sieler and returned for a TD to give the Dolphins a 24-20 lead!!!

The Dolphins went 3 and out on their second possession as well, with Waddle dropping his THIRD bomb of the day. Then the D forced a Buffalo 3 and out. On the next series, with the Dolphins pinned deep and facing a third and long, Skylar Thompson underthrew a deep pass and was intercepted. The Bills got the ball in Miami territory and promptly took the lead back with an easy TD. They added another TD later in the 3rd to take an insurmountable 34-24 lead.

But this Dolphins team refused to die and continued to fight in what was a wild 4th quarter. They managed to put together a 75 yard scoring drive early in the 4th quarter, capped off by a Jeff Wilson TD. Trailing 34-31, the Phins had life. And then the D forced a 3 and out, highlighted by a Zach Sieler 3rd down sack. But the putrid Miami offense followed up with a 3 and out of their own. On the Bills next drive, they got to midfield after a 31 yard third down completion. However, the drive stalled and ended with a Bradley Chubb strip sack, recovered by Buffalo. On the next drive, Miami’s final drive as it happened, on 3rd and 10, Thompson had a gorgeous 25 yard completion to Waddle. A Robert Jones false start on the ensuing first down pushed them back, and though they managed to gain 14 yards on 2nd down, they couldn’t pick up a first on third down and were faced with a 4th and 1. The 4th and 1 became a 4th and 6 after a delay of game penalty (more on that later), and the game essentially ended with an incomplete pass.

This loss will haunt the team forever, because it could have been a win without all the inexcusable mistakes. The Dolphins best players let them down today: Waddle had 3 drops (all on potentially game-changing deep passes), Tyreek Hill had a drop and Jeff Wilson had two drops. The offense had 4 false start penalties. The defense missed a boatload of tackles. The OL was dreadful, and there was no running game. And the rookie QB missed a lot of open receivers all game.

Despite all that, the worst part of this game was watching the offense’s constant pre-snap problems. Thompson took forever to communicate the plays to his teammates, and it resulted in a waste of several timeouts and two bad delay of game penalties. The playclock constantly got to zero, and I’m shocked that they weren’t flagged for several more delays.

Thompson really played hard and did the best he could. Unfortunately, his best just isn’t very good. He had trouble moving the ball, he missed receivers all day, and his INTs were dreadful. Despite all that, I have to tip my hat to Skylar for hanging in there in an almost impossible situation.

If you’ve read this far, it may sound like this game wasn’t close at all. And really, it wasn’t. The Bills dominated in every single category. The Miami offense managed to gain just 231 yards, and the D allowed 423 yards and 34 points. Yet somehow, the Dolphins fought tooth and nail and came up with big plays in all phases of the game to keep themselves in it and even lead at one point.

When all is said and done, it was an exciting game and I am extremely proud of how this team played today. They constantly shot themselves in the foot, but they never gave up and just kept coming. The long offseason starts now, but I believe the future is bright for the Miami Dolphins.


Hero of the Game: If I was giving out an individual award, it would go to Zach Sieler. He had a monster game. But I am going to give the honor to the entire team and coaching staff. This was a spirited effort, and though they came up short they never quit and gave the Bills all they could handle.

Goat of the Game: A lot to go around: Waddle and Thompson were both awful, and the defense gave up way too many big plays.

If Grier drafts Brock Purdy instead of Skylar, this game's a win even without the obvious league plot to keep Tua out so he couldn't beat their designated darlings. Sorry, I just had to say it.