Throughout Tua Tagovailoa’s NFL career, the Buffalo Bills have bullied the Miami Dolphins quarterback.
In the former Alabama All-American’s rookie year, the Dolphins went into their 2020 regular-season finale with four ways to qualify for the playoffs. But Buffalo pummeled the Dolphins 56-26 as Tagovailoa threw three interceptions.
In Buffalo’s 35-0 victory over Miami on Sept. 19, 2021, Tagovailoa sustained fractured ribs that forced him to miss three games. In the Bills’ 26-11 rematch victory on Oct. 31 that season, Tagovailoa fractured a finger that sat him down for a game and a half.
In a 31-10 loss to Buffalo on Sept. 12, 2024, the Bills concussed Tagovailoa, and he missed the next four games.
Entering Sunday’s Buffalo-Miami game, Tagovailoa had a 1-9 record against the Bills, and five of his worst 11 passing-efficiency ratings had come against Buffalo.
But this time around, Tagovailoa had a bully of his own, and the Dolphins defeated the Bills 31-13. Miami running back De’Von Achane ran for 174 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries and caught six passes for 51 yards.
“It’s very satisfying,” Tagovailoa said after the victory. “We beat a great team today, and I’m proud of the guys in the locker room. Defense did what they needed to do, offense did what we needed to do to some extent and then special teams, they did what they needed to do to help us collectively win this football game. So I’m proud of the team, proud of those guys in that locker room, and this is one of those where, like, I want to say I’m very proud because I see the work that they put in day in and day out, and this is one that I think they deserve, the team deserves.”
Achane’s yardage included two fourth-quarter touchdowns – a 59-yard run as the Dolphins took a 23-6 lead with 6:31 to play and a 35-yard run as Miami set the final margin with 3:17 left.
After Tagovailoa threw his second interception on Sunday with 8:55 to play, the quarterback handed off to Achane five straight times to get two touchdowns before kneeling out the final 64 seconds.
“Every time you can get someone like that, a playmaker on your team, you get him the ball in his hands and you know what he he’s capable of doing,” Tagovailoa said. “But it’s not just that. It’s also in the pass game where he helps us thrive as well. So having someone like that who can align at running back, who can align at slot or at receiver, I think that tells you a lot about the playmaker he is.”
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Tagovailoa completed 15-of-21 passes for 173 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions to cap a week full of media speculation about his job security.
It looked kind of shaky with an interception on the third snap of the game, but Tagovaila rebounded with touchdown passes on Miami’s next two possessions.
“I think it’s the unintended consequence of adversity,” Miami coach Mike McDaniel said. “I think we’ve had our fair share of reps of having things not play out the way you kind of set out for them to play out. And the young team -- we have a lot of young players that have been learning on the fly, and I think it was a good game of maturation in that way. So it was good to have a complete effort and when you get complete efforts like that and you don’t allow things to play a factor in your style of play regardless if it’s whatever a call you don’t believe is right or a play that the opposing team makes. You know, I was very proud of our resolve and our focus to get the job done.”
On the first two scoring series, Tagovailoa completed all four of his passes for 76 yards and two TDs. Wide receiver Malik Washington caught a 9-yard pass for the game’s first points with 4:49 left in the first quarter, and wide receiver Jaylen Waddle caught a long throw from his former Crimson Tide teammate in the end zone for a 38-yard completion as the Dolphins went up 13-0 eight seconds into the second quarter.
“I think that’s one of his calling cards that makes him uniquely prepared for the position that he is as a franchise quarterback,” McDaniel said of Tagovailoa, “because I don’t think people really give it its due on how difficult it is when you have all the layers of scrutiny. I do think that is what you sign up for. So it’s more like I know the mental toughness of him because of his ability to flourish in those types of situations.
“He was the captain and the leader this game. And I thought he showed the way to the team by -- I asked him to be aggressive on a couple plays and not worry about the result if it was a deep play and give our guys a shot down the field. And to me, that’s how you win football games is when you have people that put aside stat sheets, put aside -- no one wants to throw throw a pick. But to be aggressive and to challenge the defense and have the rest of your offense work on if you’re going to take risks, you can’t be afraid of the end result.
“The second touchdown was a gigantic play in the game that was super aggressive. They had probably like a 3-yard window to complete that before it was the back of the end zone, so he played really well. But I think as a captain of this team, he knew what time it was.”
While Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen threw for 306 yards and two touchdowns, he was intercepted with the Bills on the Miami 5-yard line in the third quarter and lost a fumble in the fourth quarter.
By dropping Buffalo to 6-3, the Dolphins improved to 3-7 for their game against the Washington Commanders at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain, at 8:30 a.m. CST Sunday. NFL Network will televise the game.
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