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'Guys stepped up again' | How Ja'Marcus Ingram and the Bills defense led Buffalo to a 2-0 start in 2024

Sep 13, 2024 at 12:01 PM

Dorian Alerte

Contributing Correspondent

The Buffalo Bills improved to 2-0 and 1-0 in the AFC East with their 31-10 victory over the Miami Dolphins.

"Guys stepped up again, that's the sign of a really good football team," Bills head coach Sean McDermott said in his post-game speech. "Football team, that's what you're becoming right here. That's important, all three phases factored into this win right here, important. And when we had them on the ropes, you did what you had to do. Our game. Our game! We just keep getting better one week at a time."

The Bills picked up their second win of the season on a short week, after playing on Sunday and quickly turning around to play their division rival Dolphins.

"Divisional win is the best thing," LT Dion Dawkins said. "That's the easiest way to get to the playoffs… Our objective every year- win the division. Win the division and then we'll finish the rest."

They once again had to rely on their depth as LB Terrel Bernard left the game early with a pectoral injury and did not return. Linebacker Baylon Spector played in his place and continually made plays on the football that helped this defense keep a high-powered Miami offense to only 10 points.

"Unbelievable job," QB Josh Allen said of the defense. "Lose TB in the first quarter. Baylon comes in, he's the green dot. Make some plays. J'Marc comes in, make some plays. You know, you look at the stat sheet… I know we were really low in time with possession, and we were probably really low in total yards, but still managed to put up 31 points, and that, that means your defense is doing something, right. So, they had our back tonight, and we're going to need them going forward… You know, when you play together like that, you're typically going to have good results."

The Bills dominated in all three phases of the game. The offense scored on four-of-five first half possessions, excluding the kneel down to end the first half, and the defense limited the explosive plays from the Dolphins offense, forcing several turnovers and generating sacks on fourth downs for turnovers-on-downs.

"All 11 guys play together, we make it easy," DT Ed Oliver said. "If everybody do their job, we make it easy on everybody. Nobody has a hard down. So, if everybody doing their job, you get gifts thrown up there like that."

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While the offense did not produce more than 250 yards, they did not have to because the defense gave them short fields to work with, with no scoring drive lasting more than eight plays.

"It's a good thing to see the team forming to a team," Dawkins said. "It's gonna take a couple of weeks for the team to really show who they really are… In the previous years, we knew who we were but now since we have a different team, we're figuring out who we are and it's a good thing. The defense showed up, guys did their thing and I tip my hat to Ja'Marcus."

Third-year DB Ja'Marcus Ingram intercepted Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa twice, once in each half. On the second interception, he found his way into the endzone, giving the Bills the 31-10 lead that would end the game.

"I was just doing my job and, you know, it fell right out the sky," Ingram said. "It looked like, you know, our D line, they were rushing … looks like he was trying to throw it away, and I was just running to the ball and caught and took it to the crib."

Bills RB James Cook and the running game got going early as well. Allen ended the game with only two rushes for two yards, one of which was a kneel down to end the first half. Cook and RB Ray Davis carried the load for the offense, combining for 107 yards rushing on a combined 20 carries.

One of Cook's early touches came on a short pass from Allen on fourth down. Cook caught the pass and saw nothing but space as he took it all the way for the opening touchdown of the game, following Ingram's opening drive interception.

"Great call by Joe (Brady)," McDermott said. "Well executed timing on that. They brought pressure on that play and again, preparation by Joe and the offensive staff and the players executed."

Cook continued to find success as he punched in a goal line run and erupted up the middle of the field on a one play drive that was a 49-yard run that broke the game open to 24-7.

"Just give kudos to the o-line," Cook said. "You know, they opened up lanes for us to run today, and we did our job and good turnout."

Bills fans traveled to Miami in full force as they took over Hard Rock Stadium. McDermott said that he was grateful for the way that the fans showed up in support of the team.

"I actually had someone come over during the game and ask me if this was a home game, which is pretty cool, right? Because there's so many, Buffalo Bills fans here. So, love it, man," McDermott said. "Great environment for the Buffalo Bills. Appreciate all the fans making the trip down here."

Allen agreed with McDermott in seeing how Bills Mafia traveled to Miami.

"Yeah, I mean, this is a fun one to play at. Our fans travel very well. They travel very well here. We appreciate that. We feed off the energy that they give us, so thank you Bills Mafia."