9/18/25 GAMEDAY Bills vs Dolphins Post Game Thread TNF

[Norcalbillsfan]

4 minutes ago, GASabresIUFan said:

This was a solid win.  Remember it was a short week. The team was without Milano and Oliver.  Taron Johnson and Cam Lewis were playing through injuries and Josh was clearly under orders not to do anything stupid.  Run the ball, make smart throws and wear out the undermanned fish.  It worked.  Bad clock management before the half and poor play calling prior to the missed FG made this game closer that it should have been.

Been saying it all week, everyone is all of a sudden acting like the dolphins are a high school team that doesnt belong on the same feild as the bills. They are still a conference opponent thats the fastest offense in the nfl with a competent QB. Coming off a short week with injuries. I dont think theres bad wins in conference, teams know eachother so well it can always turn into a dog fight. 

[KOKBILLS]

At the end of the day a W is a W...

This game could have easily been a blow out with a play here or there going our way and Miami had to come up with their best effort to keep it close. Give the Fish credit. They had a good game plan, adjusted well, and played like a team should with their season on the line. 

No one cares about the Bills problems. But Beane's plan was to have Oliver, Hoecht, Ogunjobi, Milano, and his 1st Round Pick Max Hairston on the field tonight. Plus it's a short week against a Division opponent that knows you a little better. I think on Offense Brady got a little stubborn on 1st down and there was a point in the 2nd half where the fish were not going to let Cook beat them. 

Missed a FG and still won by 10...

Next...

[Simon]

21 minutes ago, Pine Barrens Mafia said:

This is another one of those bills games that feels like a 3 point loss

 

 

[Bob in STL]

Tough game, as I expected for Thursday night game against a very desperate Dolphins team. 

 

The offense looked good, then not, and then good again.  Not liking that the Bills are not taking any deep shots down field.  They averaged 6.3 yards per play which is quite good, but they left points on the field.  

 

The kickoff coverage was not good and Miami had good field position most of the game. 

 

The Bills 3rd down defense was bad (they gave up 10 of 15), mostly do to lack of pass rush.  Bernard with a great INT when needed.  

 

Take the W and ten days of rest.  They are not going to steam roll teams every week.  Go Bills!  

Edited Friday at 04:24 AM by Bob in STL

[SCBills]

Bills Offense looks like the Chiefs Offenses of late.  Boring, with a great QB play here and there.  Stretches of poor play as a whole, predictable runs and a ton of throws within 5 yard of the LOS. 
 

Difference being we can run the ball and they can’t - which is why we score 31 while looking like we’re sleepwalking. 
 

But if they trade for Tyreek.. 

Edited Friday at 04:32 AM by SCBills

[y2zipper]

Hanging out in the lot while I write this.

 

The name of the game here was stone cold efficiency. It isn't the flashiest or most entertaining thing, but it's 5 and half a rush and 7 and a half a pass over and over and over. What we saw out there on offense is the sort of thing that wins titles. Be efficient, be smart, attack and score, and go get when you need. 5/8 scores excluding the end of half, should have been 6/8 if they make the easy fg. I think the game turns into a laugher if they make that FG and go up ten.

 

Bad game for special teams with the muffed punt, big return surrender and missed fg. Nothing terribly costly today, but that unit needs to clean it up.

 

The defense is a work in progress. Miami was trying to go short and quick to get the ball to their athletes, and that worked well for them. Ultimately, better teams make less mistakes. Buffalo made less mistakes and won here.

 

 

[DrDawkinstein]

The best call McDermott made all night was sneaking in a Time Out to negate the Dolphins false start.

 

It was 3rd and 5, and the Dolphins were trying to jump early to get to 3rd and 10, since that was a gimme all night.

[Buffalo Ballin]

Fins going 0-3. We're still the fathers. To them and Baltimore Ravens.

 

We should be the fathers to Fins for the next 5 years. They were trying to injure Josh Allen tonight. That was disgusting. Eff them.

 

 

[Coach Tuesday]

3 minutes ago, y2zipper said:

Hanging out in the lot while I write this.

 

The name of the game here was stone cold efficiency. It isn't the flashiest or most entertaining thing, but it's 5 and half a rush and 7 and a half a pass over and over and over. What we saw out there on offense is the sort of thing that wins titles. Be efficient, be smart, attack and score, and go get when you need. 5/8 scores excluding the end of half, should have been 6/8 if they make the easy fg. I think the game turns into a laugher if they make that FG and go up ten.

 

Bad game for special teams with the muffed punt, big return surrender and missed fg. Nothing terribly costly today, but that unit needs to clean it up.

 

The defense is a work in progress. Miami was trying to go short and quick to get the ball to their athletes, and that worked well for them. Ultimately, better teams make less mistakes. Buffalo made less mistakes and won here.

 

 

Even before the missed FG - the previous play where Josh got sacked, it looked like if he had just stepped to his right instead of up into the teeth of the rush, he would’ve had wide open space to scramble.  That drive really should’ve been the kill shot - was very frustrating.  I’m sure Josh was frustrated too.

[folz]

This defense is going to get better as the season wears on. Anyone expecting a giant step forward from last year in just the first few weeks probably had some unrealistic expectations.

 

First, it was a short week. Also, Milano and Oliver were out (as were Jackson, Ingram, and Hancock). We'll eventually get Hairston and the suspended guys back. The rookies (and Bishop) are getting valuable playing time and should get better as the season goes on (Walker played well today after one poster last week had already written him off after just two games). A lot of new guys on the D-line (7 new players), the more they play together, work the rotations, the better they will get/more in sync they will be. And there are probably some new wrinkles from the new coaches that they will integrate better and rep more often, etc. Gotta give it all a little bit of time to gel.

 

And it's not like Miami had some crazy offensive numbers/night. They had 9 possessions: 3 TDs (one that should have been a punt or a 4th and 5 try instead, Hill was out of bounds on that 3rd---why was there no replay assist on that, like there was on the Miami first down late in the game?), 4 punts, 1 TO, end-of-game. So, we stopped them on 6 of 9 (should have been 7 of 9) possessions. 

Tua threw for 146 yards 2 TDs 1 INT

Achane led the backfield with 62 yards 0 TDs

Hill led the receivers with 49 yards and 1 TD

Waddle added 39 yards and 1 TD

Total offense: 276 yards

Points: 21

 

Vs. NE in week 2

Tua threw for 315 yards 2 TDs and 1 INT

Achane ran for 30 yards 0 TDs

Hill had 109 rec yards

Achane had 92 rec yards and 1 TD

Waddle had 68 yards and 1 TD

Total offense: 376 yards

Points: 27

 

Somehow our defensive stats vs. Miami look closer to the Colts blowout from week 1 (except in points because the Colts had 3 turnovers as opposed to just 1 by the Bills tonight):

Tua threw for 133 1 TD and 2 INT

Achane had 55 yards 0 TDs

Hill had 40 yards

Waddle had 30 yards

Total offense: 224 yards

Points: 8

[Cheektowaga Chad]

This game to me had the feel that the bills didn't really respect the dolphins, like at all 

 

The time outs on first and second down with well under a minute in the half to play where the dolphins were very much already in fg position demonstrate this in my opinion 

[ColoradoBills]

4 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Even before the missed FG - the previous play where Josh got sacked, it looked like if he had just stepped to his right instead of up into the teeth of the rush, he would’ve had wide open space to scramble.  That drive really should’ve been the kill shot - was very frustrating.  I’m sure Josh was frustrated too.

 

Josh had a number of plays that he didn't flush right.  It happens, I guess.  Luckily the team got through it.

I'm sure he will see it in the tape and adjust.

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

I did enjoy the extended Mr Brightside . It gives me goosebumps to hear the crowd chant

[Simon]

10 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

The best call McDermott made all night was sneaking in a Time Out to negate the Dolphins false start.

 

It was 3rd and 5, and the Dolphins were trying to jump early to get to 3rd and 10, since that was a gimme all night.

 

I think that was the only f bomb I dropped all night. 

2 minutes ago, Cheektowaga Chad said:

This game to me had the feel that the bills didn't really respect the dolphins, like at all 

 

The time outs on first and second down with well under a minute in the half to play where the dolphins were very much already in fg position demonstrate this in my opinion 

 

It got him 3 points vs Baltimore, but it's not something he needs to be making a habit of.

That wasn't the spot for it, imo.

[Dan]

20 minutes ago, Norcalbillsfan said:

Been saying it all week, everyone is all of a sudden acting like the dolphins are a high school team that doesnt belong on the same feild as the bills. They are still a conference opponent thats the fastest offense in the nfl with a competent QB. Coming off a short week with injuries. I dont think theres bad wins in conference, teams know eachother so well it can always turn into a dog fight. 

Quoted for truth!  Everyone ..expected.. this game to be a complete beat down ending in fired coaches and a torn franchise.  And now they’re upset we only won by 10pts?  People need to pull their heads out of their asses and just give the Fins credit for a good game, and give the Bills more credit for keeping their head down and grinding out a solid win against a division opponent. 

The Bills did what good teams do.  They beat a team they should beat.  Take the win and move on.   We’re 3-0 and in firm control of the division!  Keep stacking wins  and… 
 

Go Bills!  

 

[billsfan89]

Bills “got away” with letting a team hang around. But these Thursday Divisional games are funky sometimes. The Fins were about to get the ball back on their own 1 but they made the mistake that put them down 7 and then with the turnover late it sealed their fate.

 

Josh is the ultimate bail out when needed but give the defense credit they made the clutch play too and 21 points against a Fins offense that played well despite their Oline issues.

 

The Prater missed kick was the only major mistake the Bills made it tiled the game from Bills up 10 and looking in control to giving the Fins the ball in solid field position down a score.

 

These are the games you gotta “grind out” and now the Bills have a “mini bye” to hopefully get Ed and Milano back and continue to a more dominant effort against the Saints

2 minutes ago, Dan said:

Quoted for truth!  Everyone ..expected.. this game to be a complete beat down ending in fired coaches and a torn franchise.  And now they’re upset we only won by 10pts?  People need to pull their heads out of their asses and just give the Fins credit for a good game, and give the Bills more credit for keeping their head down and grinding out a solid win against a division opponent. 

The Bills did what good teams do.  They beat a team they should beat.  Take the win and move on.   We’re 3-0 and in firm control of the division!  Keep stacking wins  and… 
 

Go Bills!  

 

Are you saying fans are reactionary and prisoners of the moment? That doesn’t sound like this board

[Chandler#81]

Ogunjobi & Hoigt can’t get here soon enough. Hoping Eds foot is good for next week!

[ColoradoBills]

I will say something I as an ordinary fan would like to be considered.

 

The Bills, in their running attack have the most success when they spread the rushes across the field.

Left, right, up the center, off tackle.  I like the pitches, and they should do some more of that.

 

It's the "up the middle" runs that I think are a called a little too often.  Cook can do it, but Davis and Johnson need to do it less often IMO.

[NewEra]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

 

I didn't focus too closely on the DL,  but my impression was that Walker had a solid game.  

Yeah he flashed some for sure.  Could be a boom or bust play to play.  Luckily, as an inside pass rusher, his booms should make a difference

[BigAl2526]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBill said:

That was a relief …..

It just feels like it didn't need to be that close.