The Buffalo Bills saluted the retiring Kyle Williams in dramatic fashion with a complete beat-down of the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, outscoring the Dolphins 28-3 in the second half to win 42-17 at New Era Field. Josh Allen scored five touchdowns, the defense generated four turnovers, and Williams caught his first career pass in the victory.
The Bills sent Williams off with a standing ovation at the end of the victory, kneeling to give him one more appearance on the field and calling a timeout to allow the fans to recognize his career. Williams collected three tackles (one for a loss) on the day, but also showed his chops at wide receiver before the game was through. He ran a short out route, breaking through a jam at the line and bringing the ball up the sideline for a nine-yard gain.
Allen came out red-hot to start the game, completing seven-of-eight passes for 100 yards and a touchdown. He slowed down in the second quarter, and threw his first career pick-six at the end of the half as the Dolphins caught up from a 14-0 deficit to 14-14, but kept making magic with his legs in the second half, and threw two more touchdown passes before the day was through. Allen finished 17/26 (65.4%) for 224 yards passing (8.62 yards per attempt), with three touchdowns against that interception. He showed off his wheels on the ground, with nine carries for 95 yards and two touchdowns. In doing so, Allen set the franchise rushing record for a quarterback and tied the quarterback rushing touchdown record set by Jack Kemp in 1963, in only twelve games during his first NFL season.
The Buffalo defense, supporting their team captain, was equally impressive today. They held Miami to 225 total yards on 57 plays, and ended both of Ryan Tannehill’s first two drives with interceptions. Tremaine Edmunds collected the baton from Williams, leading the team with 12 tackles, landing a sack, and collecting his second career interception. Jordan Phillips recovered a fumble against his former team, Trent Murphy landed on a botched Wildcat snap, and Tre’Davious White hauled in Buffalo’s second interception on the day. Miami’s longest play was a 19-yard pass completion to Kenyan Drake.
The only weak notes were Buffalo’s special teams unit, again. Stephen Hauschka missed a 42-yard kick short, still clearly affected by the back injury suffered earlier this season. Matt Darr only punted three times, but managed only 34 net yards per punt.
This game also featured the second brawl featuring ejections in two years between these two teams. Last year Jarvis Landry started a fight with Jordan Poyer after scoring a touchdown, leading to two ejected Dolphins. This year, Kiko Alonso dove to tackle a sliding Allen and kicked him in the head, igniting another brawl. Alonso, Bills tackle Jordan Mills, and Dolphins defensive end Robert Quinn were ejected in this one.
Notes
- Tre’Davious White left the game with a head injury after a poorly-executed tackle attempt. He did not return to the game.
- Robert Foster appeared to jam his finger on a Josh Allen fastball, but later returned to the game.
- Jordan Mills was ejected for his part in the third quarter fight. He was replaced by Conor McDermott.
- Zay Jones caught six passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns, making him Buffalo’s leading receiver on the day.
- Jones finished with a 56/652/7 receiving slash. This led the team, and was a huge improvement from year one, but he doesn’t seem to be the number-one receiver this team needs.
- With four catches for 21 yards and a touchdown, Robert Foster finishes with 27/541/3. That makes him Buffalo’s second-leading receiver this year.
- Foster almost managed to have more yards and more touchdowns than Kelvin Benjamin managed in twice as many games with the team. Benjamin had 571 yards and two touchdowns for the Bills.
- For the first time in team history, the leading passer and the leading rusher were the same person (Josh Allen).
- Allen improved his passing stats, but finished the year with ten touchdowns against 12 interceptions. He did add eight more touchdowns on the ground, though.
- Allen’s finale helped Buffalo’s awful aggregate passing stats for the season. The team still finished with 13 touchdowns against 24 interceptions, which is easily bottom-five in franchise history.