The Buffalo Bills continued their domination of their AFC East rivalry with the Dolphins, winning a 31-10 romp in Miami on Thursday night.
Buffalo moved to 9-1 against the Dolphins over the last five seasons, including playoffs -- the most wins by any team versus any opponent since 2020. From the second quarter onward, the Bills dominated, led by a defense that squashed Mike McDaniel's offense even before Tua Tagovailoa exited with a concussion.
Sean McDermott's defense generated three interceptions, two sacks and 10 tackles for loss. The unit also forced four turnover-on-downs (including a big one in the second quarter), allowed a 47% third-down rate and held Miami to 1 of 4 in the red zone.
"We played our style of football and, and I think we've got to, things to do, to work and get some rest, like I said, But continuing to groove our football and what we're trying to do and what we're trying to become," McDermott said after the game.
Buffalo held Miami to 10 points, the club's second-fewest in a game with McDaniel as its head coach.
"We were probably really low in total yards but still managed to put up 31 points, and that means your defense is doing something right. So they had our back tonight," quarterback Josh Allen said, via the team's official website.
The Bills offense put up just 247 total yards with 13 first downs. Three of Buffalo's four scoring drives began in Miami territory.
Despite an offseason overhaul that left them younger on the back end and a string of injuries that left them without star linebacker Matt Milano and nickel Taron Johnson on Thursday night, the Bills simply continue to be stingy. Even after linebacker Terrel Bernard exited with a pectoral injury, the waves continued to come for Buffalo.
Von Miller, looking notably sleeker this season, generated a sack for the second consecutive week after going 14 games without a QB takedown. He became the 19th player all-time to reach 125.0 sacks since individual sacks began being tracked in 1982, per NFL Research.
Through two games, the Bills defense has shown a propensity for the big plays -- sacks, interceptions, forced fumbles -- despite giving up yards. Once again, McDermott's defense has negated the big play. Since the coach took over in 2017, the Bills have allowed the fewest 20-plus yard plays in the NFL (281), 32 fewer than any other team, per Chris Brown of the club's official website. They allowed one 20-plus-yard play to an explosive Miami team on Thursday night.
The Bills have seen key players knocked out due to injury for years and continued to roll. Thursday night, backup corner Ja'Marcus Ingram underscored the next-man-up mentality, finding himself the beneficiary of being at the right place at the right time twice for interceptions.
"I was just doing my job. And, you know, as (the ball) fell right out the sky," Ingram said.
The former undrafted free agent has played in just seven career games. Thursday night marked his first- and second-career INTs, including a pick-six that blew the game open.
"Ja'Marcus comes in again, gets another big play for us, and that's great to see. And these guys work hard, you know, so good things happen when you work hard. And sometimes the ball finds you like that," McDermott said.
For a club with significant questions on the back seven after the offseason changes, the past six quarters have been sensational. McDermott deserves credit for putting his guys in position to make those game-changing plays.
