Final Score: Miami 22 – Buffalo 9
Location: Miami Gardens, FL – Sun Life Stadium
W-L records: Buffalo (5-5); Miami (6-4)
In a Nutshell:
In an AFC East matchup that was expected to be a defensive struggle,
Buffalo nursed a six-point lead into the third quarter (9-3) thanks to
three field goals from
Dan Carpenter
.
Miami however, put together a touchdown drive to take a one-point lead
(10-9), and the Dolphins defense shut the door from that point forward.
Ryan Tannehill and the Dolphins’ offense awoke to score 17 unanswered
points to end the game with the defense contributing a safety in a
pivotal 22-9 victory.
An intentional grounding penalty on
Kyle Orton
resulted in a safety for Miami to push the Dolphins’ lead to three
(12-9) late in the third quarter. The Bills offense couldn’t muster much
of anything in the second half as they went 0-7 on third down
conversions over the final two quarters and 0-2 in the red zone for the
game.
The loss dropped the Bills to 5-5 on the season, 2-2 in the
division and 2-5 versus AFC opponents as they slipped perilously behind
in the AFC playoff race. Miami moved into sole possession of second
place in the division with the victory improving to 6-4.
How it went down:
--The Dolphins got on the scoreboard first going on a 14-play 68-yard
march before Caleb Sturgis put a 38-yard field goal through the uprights
for a 3-0 lead with 6:40 left in the opening quarter.
--Buffalo
also scored on their first possession with a 14-play 67-yard drive,
which resulted in a 33-yard field goal from Dan Carpenter to tie the
score at 3-3 with :18 seconds left in the first quarter.
--
Jerry Hughes forced a Ryan Tannehill fumble on a scramble run and
Duke Williams
recovered the loose ball and returned it to the Bills’ 12-yard line.
Buffalo’s offense then went on their longest drive of the season taking
9:24 off the clock before Carpenter hit a 21-yard field goal for a 6-3
lead with 3:26 remaining in the first half.
The Buffalo pass rush was led by Mario
Williams, who had 3.5 sacks in the game. As a unit the defense had five
sacks on the night.
Final Score: Miami 22 – Buffalo 9
Location: Miami Gardens, FL – Sun Life Stadium
W-L records: Buffalo (5-5); Miami (6-4)
In a Nutshell:
View Gallery | 23 Photos
Game photos: Bills vs. Dolphins
In
an AFC East matchup that was expected to be a defensive struggle,
Buffalo nursed a six-point lead into the third quarter (9-3) thanks to
three field goals from
Dan Carpenter.
Miami however, put together a touchdown drive to take a one-point lead
(10-9), and the Dolphins defense shut the door from that point forward.
Ryan Tannehill and the Dolphins’ offense awoke to score 17 unanswered
points to end the game with the defense contributing a safety in a
pivotal 22-9 victory. An intentional grounding penalty on
Kyle Orton
resulted in a safety for Miami to push the Dolphins’ lead to three
(12-9) late in the third quarter. The Bills offense couldn’t muster much
of anything in the second half as they went 0-7 on third down
conversions over the final two quarters and 0-2 in the red zone for the
game.
The loss dropped the Bills to 5-5 on the season, 2-2 in the
division and 2-5 versus AFC opponents as they slipped perilously behind
in the AFC playoff race. Miami moved into sole possession of second
place in the division with the victory improving to 6-4.
How it went down:
--The Dolphins got on the scoreboard first going on a 14-play 68-yard
march before Caleb Sturgis put a 38-yard field goal through the uprights
for a 3-0 lead with 6:40 left in the opening quarter.
--Buffalo
also scored on their first possession with a 14-play 67-yard drive,
which resulted in a 33-yard field goal from Dan Carpenter to tie the
score at 3-3 with :18 seconds left in the first quarter.
--
Jerry Hughes forced a Ryan Tannehill fumble on a scramble run and
Duke Williams
recovered the loose ball and returned it to the Bills’ 12-yard line.
Buffalo’s offense then went on their longest drive of the season taking
9:24 off the clock before Carpenter hit a 21-yard field goal for a 6-3
lead with 3:26 remaining in the first half.
--Buffalo
tacked on another field goal at the end of an eight-play 49-yard drive
with Carpenter hitting from 46 yards out for a 9-3 lead in the third
quarter.
--The Dolphins were able to retake the lead for the
first time since the opening quarter when Tannnehill hit a wide open
Brandon Gibson for a seven-yard touchdown strike to cap a nine-play
80-yard drive (10-9) with two minutes remaining in the third quarter.
--After a late intentional grounding call long after the play was
over resulted in a safety for Miami, Buffalo kicked away. On the Jarvis
Landry return
--Unfortunately
Buffalo’s offense could manage just 10 yards on the drive and Dan
Carpenter missed wide left on the 47-yard field goal attempt.
--Miami
was then the beneficiary of a 24-yard pass interference call on the
next possession that set the Dolphins up at the Bills’ 13-yard line. Two
plays later Tannehill found Jarvis Landry for an eight-yard touchdown
play to balloon the Miami lead to 19-9 early in the fourth quarter.
--After
Buffalo failed on a fourth down conversion deep in their own territory
Miami kicked a short field goal to cap the scoring (22-9).
Stat lines:
--Kyle Orton was 22-39 passing for 193 yards and a passer rating of 69.7.
--
Chris Hogan led Buffalo’s receivers with seven catches for 74 yards.
--After going 6-8 on third down conversions in the first half, Buffalo’s offense went 0-7 in the second half.
Quotes from the locker room:
“To get just three points off the two turnovers you can’t do that
especially when the ball started in their plus 50 range and you can’t do
that. You’ve got to be able to take advantage of those situations and
finish and we were outscored. But it was a team loss. There’s no doubt
about that when you look at all the things that happened out there.”
--Head coach Doug Marrone
“Our
performance isn’t good enough right now. We’ve got to go back to the
drawing board a little bit and just the only thing I know is to go back
and work harder and try to work harder and try to get better and it
starts with the quarterback. My job is to put points on the board and
whatever I need to do to get the offense better that’s what I need to
do.”
--QB Kyle Orton
“That’s pretty much what it was missed
tackles. We had a couple of miscommunications and that was it. We’ve
just got to make the plays when we’ve got the opportunity. We were in
position. We’ve just got to finish.”
--LB Nigel Bradham
View Gallery | 13 Photos
Mario Williams crazy red contacts
Subplots:
--The Buffalo pass rush was led by
Mario Williams, who had 3.5 sacks in the game. As a unit the defense had five sacks on the night.
--The
Bills won the turnover battle 2-0, but managed to score just three
points off takeaways as their other possession after a takeaway resulted
in a missed field goal.
--
Leodis McKelvin
left the game in the first half with an ankle injury and did not
return. He appeared to roll his ankle inward when his footing in the
turf slipped.
--Bryce Brown got the start at running back for Buffalo. He also served as the team’s kick returner with
Marquise Goodwin out with a rib injury.
--Buffalo dressed WR
Mike Williams who was targeted on a red zone play and also served on special teams.
--Nigel Bradham had his second forced fumble in his last two games.
Up Next:
The Bills have a 10-day window before they host another AFC East rival
in the New York Jets, who are coming off their bye, on Nov. 23 for a 1 p.m. kickoff at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
