It was a Murphy’s Law of a game for the Miami Dolphins on this second Sunday of the NFL regular season. Ass if all the injuries Miami limped into the game with were not enough, Phins running back Knowshon Moreno had to be helped off the field after suffering a gruesome elbow injury in the first quarter of the game. Miami’s offense never seemed to regain their focus, and soon after, the game started to look as if it would be a long one for the Dolphins. It would be a long game with the Dolphins losing 29-10.
Two of the key matchups in this game were Miami’s first round selection Ja’Wuan James going against Bill’s defensive end Mario Williams and Buffalo’s rookie right tackle Seantrel Henderson going against AFC defensive player of the week Cameron Wake for the Dolphins. James held his own against a usually relentless Williams’ rush and so did Henderson against Wake’s, who was not able to live up to expectation following the monster game he enjoyed last week against the New England Patriots. The Henderson-Wake match up had the potential to perhaps dictate how the game would go, but the Dolphins unraveling would not be caused by the defense, but by the offense and special teams instead.
The Bills and Dolphins traded punts on the first two drives of the 1st quarter, but on the following possession, Buffalo put together a 10 play drive which culminated in a 49 yard Dan Carpenter field goal that put the Bills up 3-0. Miami’s next possession stalled after 5 plays and only 1 first down. The ensuing punt was blocked by the Bills who recovered the ball at the Dolphins' 31 yard line. This would be the first of three costly miscues by the Dolphins special teams, whose struggles on Sunday could not be overstated. Buffalo went on to score another field goal with 22 seconds left in the first quarter. The Dolphins, again failed to score any points after their next drive produced only one first down.
Buffalo engineered another scoring drive, which ended in another Dan Carpenter field goal and the Bills went up by 9. Miami was not able to score any points for the remainder of the second quarter, choosing instead to run out the clock with over 2 minutes left before halftime. The score at halftime was 9-0 Buffalo over Miami.
The Dolphins came out in the second half looking sharper and appeared to have made the necessary adjustments during halftime. They put together a nice 13 play drive, which ended with a Caleb Sturgis field goal. Unfortunately for Miami, the ensuing kick was returned 102 yards for a TD by Buffalo running back C.J. Spiller.
Miami put another scoring drive together, when Ryan Tannehill finally found Mike Wallace in the end zone for a touchdown. This would be the only touchdown scored by Miami’s offense, which of course, would not be enough to get Miami back in the game. The Bills answered back on their next possession and follow up with a touchdown drive of their own. Buffalo added two more field goals before it was all over resulting in the game’s final score. Buffalo won 29-10 in a disappointing effort by the Dolphins.