Buffalo dominated Miami, 31-10 as McDermott moves to 14-2 against AFC East rival

By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun/Olean Star Senior Sports Columnist

Sean McDermott has coached 126 games  — regular season and playoffs — for the Buffalo Bills. Some have been pretty impressive, some have been less-than-inspired.

But, you could argue that none was more brilliantly coached than what McDermott pulled off Thursday night at Miami Gardens. 

The 31-10 dominance of the Dolphins was as masterful a coaching performance as he’s conjured among his 79 career victories.

And it wasn’t just McDermott but also his coordinators, Bobby Babich’s defense and Joe Brady’s offense.

And the most remarkable aspect of this unexpectedly decisive triumph was that it happened in the face of all the things that made the Bills a 2½ point underdog.

Start with the fact that Buffalo was coming off a less-than-impressive 34-28 victory over Arizona in the season opener in Orchard Park.

Then, the Bills were in a short week, flying 1,350 miles to South Florida to face a Dolphins team playing a second straight home game, the first one of which required a 52-yard field goal as time expired to beat Jacksonville.

Third, Buffalo was thrust into less-than-ideal weather conditions, even though at night, with temperatures and humidity in the mid-80s.

So what happened?

The Bills both eviscerated and debunked, the preseason favorite to win the AFC East on its home field.

Nothing about Miami gave the impression that Mike McDaniel’s crew was in any way elite. The touted speed never really showed itself as the Bills stuffed the running game and totally disrupted the so-called potent deep passing attack.

The Dolphins gave the strong vibe that they just weren’t ready and you felt it early in the game.

THIS VICTORY was accomplished totally opposite from conventional wisdom.

The first “necessity” was that quarterback Josh Allen, once again, had to be Superman as he was against the Cardinals, accounting for all four of Buffalo’s touchdowns.

Instead, versus the Dolphins he was the back-handed assessment of average QBs, a “game manager.”

His numbers were pedestrian: 13-of-19 passing for 139 yards and one touchdown pass, a 17-yarder to running back James Cook. He wasn’t sacked and didn’t turn the ball over.

And the reason he wasn’t the Josh Allen we know was that he didn’t have to be.

Cook scored three times including rushes of 1 and 49 yards in a span of less than three minutes.

Still this victory produced some odd stats favoring the Dolphins: offensive plays 75-45, total yards on offense 351-247 and a 12½ minute edge in time of possession.

So why did Miami lose?

Because Buffalo’s supposedly vulnerable defense was anything but.

The biggest standout was reserve cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram, a UB alum signed to the practice squad as a free agent two years ago. Playing the “dime” position he had his first two career interceptions, one a deflection off the shoulder pads of a Dolphins receiver, the other a 31-yard pick six when Miami QB Tua Tagovailoa underthrew an attempt to toss the ball out-of-bounds.

Fellow cornerback Christian Benford got his fourth career pick giving the Bills three takeaways but, in addition, though they’re not officially turnovers, Buffalo held the Dolphins four times on downs. That’s seven fruitless possessions.

WHAT MAKES Buffalo’s defensive performance so impressive is that it was achieved without arguably its best player. Middle linebacker and captain of the defense, Terrel Bernard, left the game in the first quarter with a pectoral injury.

And that was following the preseason loss of outside linebacker Matt Milano to a torn biceps, likely for the season, and elite nickelback Taron Johnson (forearm), though not on injured reserve, but likely out a few more weeks.

In fairness, McDaniel had a flawed game plan and didn’t adjust.

Clearly, he felt Miami could run its way to victory, but even with backup Baylon Spector in Bernard’s place and young Dorian Willams taking Milano’s spot, the linebackers held up against the ground game after the first period 

When that didn’t work, it would have been logical to use his speed at wide receiver to stretch the field given Buffalo’s vulnerability at safety. It didn’t happen and it elicited boos from the embarrassed Dolphins fan base.

When it was over on Thursday night, there was an inescapable conclusion: Maybe, just maybe, the Bills are better than we thought, and the Dolphins aren’t as good.

NOTES from Buffalo’s 31-10 victory last night:

— McDermott is now 14-2 versus Miami and Allen is 12-2.

— Following the game, McDermott had no update on Bernard’s injury.

— After a second-quarter  reception by Buffalo wideout Khalil Shakir, Dolphins safety Jordan Poyer, the former Bill was a Miami captain, was flagged for unnecessary roughness via a helmet-to-helmet hit on his one-time teammate.

—The Bills’ initial sack was recorded by tackle Ed Oliver, his first of the season. Later edge rusher Von Miller, who had a 14-game sack drought end in last week’s win over Arizona, made it two straight games as, after Tagovailoa suffered a concussion late in the third quarter after colliding with safety Damar Hamlin, dumped his backup, Skylar Thompson.

— Allen made his 61st career fumble on a 3rd-and-one play but was able to pick it up and throw an incompletion.

—Tyler Bass made his first field-goal attempt but, after struggling in preseason, missed from 45 yards wide left.

— Inactive for Buffalo were Johnson (forearm), linebackers Joe Andreessen and Edefuan Ulpffoshio, edge rushers Javon Solomon (oblique) and Dawuane Smoot (toe) and tackle Ryan Van Demark

(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)