Miami Gardens, Fla. — Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen somehow finished with over 300 passing yards in a stunning loss to the lowly Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
But most of Allen’s production came in garbage time after the Dolphins ran the ball for nearly 200 yards on Buffalo’s defense, and the Bills’ passing game was missing in action in the first half.
Allen said the Dolphins (3-7) just wanted it more than the Bills (6-3). On the heels of an impressive win over the Kansas City Chiefs last week, Buffalo’s offense managed just 86 yards in the first half. Allen had a pair of turnovers, and 8 of Buffalo’s 10 drives in the game ended with a punt or turnover.
Is Bills coach Sean McDermott frustrated with the offense’s lack of consistency in the passing game?
“It is (frustrating) because it’s an important part of our offense,” McDermott said. “We’ve got a great quarterback, and you want to be able to move the ball two-dimensionally, and we should be able to move the ball with Josh through the air.”
According to NextGenStats, Allen finished the game with an average time to throw of 3.53 seconds. That’s the highest mark in a game for Allen since 2018. The central issue was that his pass catchers weren’t getting open. The receivers losing their matchups led Allen to try to create out of structure. On one 3rd and 16 in the third quarter, Allen made his way out of trouble during two separate waves of pressure before finding Curtis Samuel for a 21-yard connection.
Allen had to scramble around in the backfield for more than 12 seconds before Samuel uncovered and presented an option downfield.
McDermott always wants to see the game film before analyzing what happened after a game. But he did admit that the wide receivers didn’t do a good enough job for Allen at times.
“I felt like there were some times where we weren’t open,” he said.
Bills right tackle Spencer Brown said it took the offense a quarter to adjust to how the Dolphins lined up to defend.
“They loaded the box well,” Brown said. “They came out in base right on the first drive and I personally wasn’t expecting that.”
Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver won the early chess match against Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, and it took Buffalo too long to figure out a counterpunch. The Bills were held scoreless through three quarters for just the third time in Josh Allen’s career.
McDermott tends to be a broken record when it comes to what his offense should look like. He reiterated that it starts up front and that the offense’s failure to pose a threat in both dimensions of the game made it difficult for both.
“It can’t just be one phase of your offense,” he said. “I say this quite a bit, it starts up front with the line of scrimmage, controlling the line of scrimmage early, and that sets up other things. That’s what I look at first – are we controlling the line of scrimmage, and then how does that set up our passing game? They go hand in hand."
Allen, who turned the ball over twice in the second half, said that he has to be better.
“We’ve got to be better in the protection game, in the pass game, in the run game, all of it,” he said. “Anytime you turn it over three times, two in the red zone – really you can count that last one, driving kind of going into the red zone – that’s a recipe for disaster."
Brown credited the Dolphins’ defense and thinks the Bills will find some answers when they put on the game tape on Monday.
“I think we only had 90 yards total in the first half. So that’s not like us at all,” Brown said. “(It was) The big ol’ kick to the you know what. ... Lost, yeah. Got our a** kicked, yeah. Take your licks and move on to the next one. We’re obviously gonna come in and watch (the film). It’s gonna hurt but you play professional football, it’s gonna happen. Just move on to the next week and hopefully it all goes right for you.”
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