Top 3 Things We Learned

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Top 3 things we learned from Bills vs. Dolphins | Week 9

Nov 03, 2024 at 09:36 PM

Alec White

Content Coordinator

The Buffalo Bills defeated their AFC East rival Miami Dolphins 30-27 on a dramatic game-winning field goal by Tyler Bass. The Bills improve to 7-2 on the year and have won four games in a row.

Here are the top three things we learned from Bills-Dolphins:

1 — Tyler Bass is made for the moment

Moments before walking onto the field to attempt a game-winning kick, Tyler Bass gave himself a quick reminder about what football is about for him.

"Just reminding myself that I love this, I love the sport. This is what I've dreamed of," he said.

In a season filled with ups and downs for the Bills kicker, Bass calmly drilled a franchise-record 61-yard field goal — also the longest field goal of his career — in front of a sold out home crowd to give Buffalo a 30-27 win over Miami in the closing seconds.

The kick had plenty of room to spare, so as soon as the ball soared past the upright, Bass let out an exuberant celebration as his teammates raced over to lift him up. Bass described the moment as "emotional".

"Was just focused on right here, right now, the present and being patient with everything. Man, you know you're gonna go through ups and downs, but just continue to put your best foot forward. We did that today. So, just very emotional," he said.

Bass is now 8 for 8 on field goals in the last minute of the 4th quarter or OT in his career and has four career game-winning FGs in the last minute. He has also made 16 straight FGs to tie or take the lead in the 2nd half, the longest active streak in the NFL.

Bills head coach Sean McDermott gave Bass the game ball in the locker room, telling him how proud he was.

"Here's a young man that has been going through it and the journey that he's been on week to week, the questions that have been asked of him," McDermott said in his postgame press conference.

"I think it's a great example of mental toughness. I think it's a great example of perseverance, resilience, And for young kids out there, here's a player that was under the microscope pretty darn hard. And we brought a player in here to compete with him midseason and he didn't back down."

The Bills are now off to a 7-2 start for just the second time in the Josh Allen & Sean McDermott era.

"So proud of him. So happy for him," Allen said. "Got emotional in my little postgame speech out there, just the trials and tribulations that he's been in throughout this year. It's what stories are made of. And I love him. I respect him so much. Everybody in that locker room is so happy for him, and he's our guy."

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2 — Unsung heroes step up

In divisional games, when there's so much familiarity on both sides, it's important to get contributions from as many players as possible.

Bills QB Josh Allen threw three touchdown passes Sunday, with all three going to unlikely candidates in WR Mack Hollins, RB Ray Davis and TE Quintin Morris. 10 different Bills now have TD receptions this season, the most in the NFL.

With CB Christian Benford out with a wrist injury, CB Kaiir Elam filled in and made five tackles, one tackle for a loss and recovered a fumble in the second half after a punch out by CB Taron Johnson to turn the momentum.

"It's great to see the team come together and everybody play a role in the win," Hollins said.

Hollins' score came after the defensive fumble recovery to start the second half. The Bills worked the ball down the field with balance, gaining 25 yards through the air and 37 on the ground.

RB James Cook got stopped on the 1-yard line on third down and the Bills opted to go for it, trailing 10-6. Under center, Allen took the snap and faked the handoff, then found Hollins working right to left in the back of the end zone for the score.

"Was able to slip through, and I think they lost me in coverage and came out the other side and it opened so Josh could find me, which was great," Hollins said.

Hollins now has three receiving touchdowns this year, one shy of tying his career high in a single season.

The second half featured a back and forth style of play, as every time the Bills seemed to be pulling away, the Dolphins had an answer. After Miami, tied the game at 20-20, Buffalo drove down the field on a 10-play, 70-yard drive ending in a three-yard touchdown from Quintin Morris.

Morris, who didn't have a catch on the year entering today, made an incredible snag in the end zone.

"You just never know when it's gonna be your day. Whenever your time comes, make sure you show up," Morris said of his mentality.

Allen said the work ethic that Hollins, Davis and Morris have shown this year gives him the confidence to trust them in big spots.

"Those are three guys that just constantly do the right thing, they're in the right spot. You know they're working their tails off. Those are also three guys that are heavy on special teams," Allen said. "It doesn't matter who it is – could be anybody on any given day, and that's what we saw today."

3 — Offense finds a groove in the second half

All three of Buffalo's touchdown drives came in the second half of Sunday's game as the Bills once again managed to make the correct adjustments at half time.

"It was a pretty big zone game, whether it was zone pressure or not, they were really forcing us to take everything underneath and hoping that we messed up," Allen said. "Just trusting the guys underneath to catch and run, and made some big plays on the play-action pass game just checking it down."

In the third and fourth quarters, the Bills averaged 6.7 yards per play after averaging 4.2 yards per play in the first half. Buffalo scored on all four of their possessions after halftime.

"At the end of the day, we just look each other in the face and just tell 'em, hey, one foot in front of the other," WR Khalil Shakir said. "You gotta keep going, regardless of the start, regardless of how the game is going. Whatever the play is that's called, okay we got to do our best to execute it."

Allen was efficient on all four second half drives, taking what the defense gave him and staying ahead of the chains. On passes of under 10 air yards, Allen completed 9 of 13 attempts for 104 yards and accounted for all three of his touchdowns.

"I'd like to be better, obviously, in the first half, and I'd like to be better in the two-minute drive – didn't feel like, again, like you said, didn't feel like (we) had a fastball. Again, just gutted it out," Allen said.