Dolphins Suffer Brutal Loss To Buffalo on Sunday

By: Brandon Liguori

For the second consecutive season under Brian Flores, the Miami Dolphins open the season 0-2, dropping a 31-28 decision in its home-opener vs. Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills (2-0) Sunday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium.
 
The good news? Well, the Dolphins did not cough up 59 points on the defensive side and score just 10 on the offensive side like they did a season ago in their 2019 home-opener vs. Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. The bad news, however? Josh Allen absolutely torched Miami’s secondary.
 
Allen tossed an eye-popping 417 yards on 24 completions to go along with four touchdown passes and a 147.0 quarterback rating, too. Allen’s 417 yards and four touchdowns are both career highs. The former Wyoming product has been known for making guys miss using his legs, but his electric arm was the difference Sunday and Allen deserves a ton of credit.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was seeking a bounce-back performance after his three-interception day seven days ago against the New England Patriots, looked comfortable under center despite three Buffalo sacks. The 16-year veteran kept the Dolphins in the game all afternoon, firing touchdown strikes to DeVante Parker, who was a limited participant in practice throughout the week due to a hamstring injury and Mike Gesicki to cut Buffalo’s lead to five, 31-26, late in the fourth quarter. Gesicki’s 130 receiving yards led all Miami receivers.
 
Not even a 36-minute lightning delay slowed down Allen, who finished off his masterful performance with a 46-yard touchdown bomb to John Brown and newly-acquired Stefon Diggs, leading all receivers with 153 yards. The Dolphins have coughed up 52 points in two games and a challenging schedule lies ahead.

You can call this contest a “rip and throw away in the trash.” Why? The Dolphins’ next opponent, Miami’s lone prime-time contest, is four days from now, an in-state battle against Gardner Minshew and the 1-1 Jacksonville Jaguars Thursday, who suffered a three-point defeat Sunday against the Ryan Tannehill-led Tennessee Titans.

You can follow Brandon on Twitter @BrandonRLiguori