In Week 14 on Monday Night Football, the Miami Dolphins beat the New England Patriots. A good part of that victory can be credited to the Dolphins defense, which prevented Tom Brady and the Patriots from converting a single first down for the first time since 1991. In Week 15, the Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins thanks to converting seven more first downs than the Patriots did.
Of those seven third down conversions, four came on the Bills’ three touchdown drives. You could also add one more as Tyrod Taylor’s touchdown pass to LeSean McCoy came on third down. These four plays had direct contributions to 18 points for the Bills. Those 18 points would’ve beaten the Dolphins even with out Steven Haushka’s two field goals.
I’m not here to tell you that the Buffalo Bills offense was world beaters on Sunday, but I did walk away impressed by the unit. They had one of their best halves of the season against a defense that just one week ago played an exceptional game against arguably the best quarterback of all time. The second half wasn’t as pretty, but it ended up not needing to be.