The Miami Dolphins were unable to take the season series with the Buffalo Bills, as they were defeated, 34-31, on Sunday at Highmark Stadium.
Miami’s campaign comes to an end rather unceremoniously, as they had fallen from a potential top seed to the last team in the AFC side of the playoff bracket.
However, the players were still giving in their all against Buffalo, even though they were without their starting and backup quarterback, with rookie Skylar Thompson thrust into the spotlight, once again.
Here are a few things that we learned from the contest:
Offensive operation needs to be better
The Dolphins had way too many unforced errors, starting with time management issues. Thompson and head coach Mike McDaniel couldn’t get the guys lined up in time to run their plays, resulting in a number of delay-of-game penalties or burned timeouts.
This was a problem for McDaniel earlier in the year when he was getting used to working with Tua Tagovailoa, so it could just be a familiarity issue, but that can’t happen on the biggest stages.
Drops proved costly
Thompson wasn’t great, by any stretch, but he was let down a few times by normally sure-handed weapons, making life more complicated for the rookie.
Incompletions on solid throws to Jaylen Waddle, Tyreek Hill and Jeff Wilson Jr. really stalled drives and kept Miami from finding any semblance of sustained success on that side of the ball.
If one or two of those are brought in, the Dolphins may have found a way to win this game.
Defense shows up in a big way
Despite having a strong front seven throughout the year, Miami wasn’t overly impressive in their sack totals this season, and their turnover rates were abysmal.
However, on Sunday, they really stepped up, sacking Josh Allen seven times, causing three turnovers and scoring a touchdown of their own.
If the Dolphins wanted a chance, Josh Boyer’s unit was going to have to play their best game of the season, and they just may have.
