Record performance on offense, surprise star on defense: How Bills crushed the Dolphins
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - James Cook stood at the podium and was listening with a blank look on his face as a reporter told him he had tied a Buffalo Bills record during the 31-10 evisceration of the Miami Dolphins Thursday night.
Cook was like, “What record did I tie?”
Well, this: Cook became the sixth player in team history to score three touchdowns in the first half, the first running back to score this football hat trick since Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas did it in the 1992 season opener against the Rams.
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Pretty head company, but when told, he nodded his head, seemingly unimpressed, and simply said, “Got my body together and just prepared myself and good things happened today.”
Yeah, a lot of good things happened as the Bills steamrolled their arch AFC East rival, and Cook played a central role as he rushed for 78 yards and two touchdowns and caught one pass for 17 yards and a TD. It was the kind of game that offensive coordinator Joe Brady had to love because he wants to take some of the burden off Josh Allen’s shoulders this season, and to do so, Cook has to play the way he did in this game.
His first TD came on a well-designed play that took advantage of a Dolphins blitz. Allen and Cook both read it perfectly, Cook slipped into the area where blitzing nickel Kader Kohou had just vacated, made the catch and beat Jevon Holland to the pylon to make it 7-0. “The play was designed for that because we knew they was going to cover zero, so once the safety came off the edge it was automatic,” Cook said.
In the second quarter, Cook got the ball on first and goal from the 1, something that almost never happened last season. That’s usually Allen territory, but this time it was Cook scoring on a play that was well-blocked
“He’s been begging for some goal-line runs and we gave it to him and he got his touchdown down there,” Allen said.
And then the coup de grace, a few minutes later, when Cook ran through a gaping hole on the right side, got into the clear and took advantage of ex-Bill Jordan Poyer’s waning speed and poor angle and took it 49 yards to the house, the longest TD of his career.
“Kudos to the o-line,” Cook said. “They opened lanes for us to run through. Turned out good. When they trust me, I’m going to get into the end zone.”
Here are some of my observations:
The key reason the Bills won
What does every coach say every single week in the NFL? You win the turnover battle, you win the game, and as much as we all get tired of hearing that, it so often ends up being true. It was certainly the case in this game as the Bills picked off three Tua Tagovailoa passes plus came up with a key turnover on downs, and those four possession changes turned into 24 Buffalo points.
Bills vs Dolphins: Plays that proved critical
▶ Ja’Marcus Ingram gave everyone an indication of what this night was going to look like when he was in the right place at the right time on Miami’s first possession. The Bills were playing zone and Christian Benford wound up covering Grant Dubose as he veered toward the middle. Tagovailoa’s pass was on target but Benford was all over Dubose and he couldn’t make the catch.
The ball caromed right to Ingram who quickly turned around and raced 25 yards to the Dolphins 37. “Just doing my job and CB made a hell of a play on the ball,” Ingram said. “Just running to the ball, I was able to come up with that one.”
▶ Early in the second quarter, the Bills were up 10-7 and they drove from their own 15 to the Miami 34 but were staring at a third-and-12. If they stayed there, Tyler Bass would have needed to make a field goal from 50-plus and that’s not something that would seem too interesting to McDermott.
Allen rolled to his right even though his protection held up, and of course, once Allen is on the edge, chaos ensues. He kept looking downfield and it looked like he was going to take off and run, and that’s what star cornerback Jalen Ramsey thought, too. He committed to coming up to stop Allen short of the first down, and running back Ty Johnson snuck past him and was open to reel in Allen’s pass for a 33-yard gain to the 1. Rather than hoping for a field goal, James Cook scored on the next play to make it 17-7.
▶ Moments later, Ed Oliver, who had been relatively quiet in the first six quarters of the season, made a huge play that began to signal the end of the night for Miami. The Bills stuffed a third-and-1 run by fullback Alec Ingold as DeWayne Carter penetrated and Dorian Williams was able to stop Ingold short.
So on fourth-and-2 at the Bills 45, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel decided to go for it, and unlike McDermott’s gamble, this one did not pay off. Jaylen Waddle was on the left and it looked like he slipped coming off the line on a quick slant. Tagovailoa had to hold the ball rather than deliver while Oliver was blowing up guard Robert Jones and he swallowed Tagovailoa for a six-yard sack and a turnover on downs. On the next play, Cook ripped off his 49-yard TD run.
▶ If the Dolphins stood any chance, they needed to do something on their first possession of the third quarter, right after the Miami defense had forced a Buffalo punt. They started at the 11, made a first down, but quickly fell into a third-and-5 at the 30.
Tagovailoa dropped back and AJ Epenesa ran a stunt with Greg Rousseau and beat his man and was on the QB in a flash. Tagovailoa knew the play was dead and he tried to throw the ball away to the left sideline but with Epenesa hitting him he didn’t throw it far enough and it floated right into the arms of Ingram who had nothing but 31 yards of green turf in front of him for the pick-six that blew the game open and actually closed the scoring.
Key coaching decisions for the Bills
McDermott had the sense at the beginning that points were going to be necessary because he likely figured this game had a good chance of being a shootout. So on Buffalo’s first offensive possession, after Ingram’s early interception, the Bills were confronted with a fourth-and-3 at the Dolphins 17 and McDermott didn’t even flinch.
He left the offense on the field and Joe Brady dialed up the perfect play call, anticipating a blitz. It came from the left edge, so Cook was sent out into the area where the blitz came from, Allen looped a pass to him and he was able to scamper to the end zone.
Bills most valuable player
Ingram made two seismic plays, the first of which gave Buffalo early control of the game, the second of which put the game away. He was used exclusively when the Bills played their three-safety dime defense and he was on the field for 23 plays. “My mindset is preparing like I'm going to play, preparing like I'm going to start no matter what,” he said. “But it's still things that I feel and it's a lot to be able to step up in those moments. The fact that they got faith in me to be able to do that is just a blessing to be a part of this organization that I can step up in those moments and make plays.”
Bills least valuable players
The Bills wide receivers, with the exception of Khalil Shakir. Curtis Samuel, Keon Coleman, Mack Hollins and Marquez Valdes-Scantling were all targeted one time each and the grand result was one measly catch, that by Samuel for a whopping three yards. Obviously, circumstances dictated a diminished role for the passing game, but the Bills have to start figuring out ways to get the receivers involved because there will be games where it’s going to be imperative.
Buffalo Bills injury report
LB Terrel Bernard left in the first quarter with a pectoral muscle injury and did not return to play, and that’s obviously a major concern. Baylon Spector was called on to fill his huge cleats and the third-year player, who has battled multiple injuries since entering the league as a seventh-round pick in 2022, made 10 tackles.
What the Bills are saying in the locker room
▶ QB Josh Allen on the play of the Bills’ defense: “Unbelievable job. Lose TB in the first quarter, Baylon comes in. He's the green dot, makes a play. ‘J-Marc’ comes in, makes some plays. You look at the stat sheet, I don't know what our numbers were, but I know we were really low in time of possession and we were probably really low in total yards, but still managed to put up 31 points and that means your defense is doing something right. They had our back tonight and we’re going to need them going forward.”
▶ OT Dion Dawkins on winning in the division: “I think honestly like any time you can get a win, regardless of if it's a division win or… Who am I kidding, right? Divisional win is the best thing. That's the easiest way to get to the playoffs. Not to say that we're looking for easy ways to get there, but our objective every year – win the division. Win the division first, and then we'll finish the rest. You win your division, that's the way to punch that ticket into the playoffs.”
▶ DE Von Miller on the Tua Tagovailoa concussion: “It was tough. I love Tua on and off the football field. I'm a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize because I've been there. I've been injured and I know how tough that road is to come back so I wish him the best. Like I said, it's just a game. I wish him a speedy recovery. Hopefully it's nothing serious.”
▶ Sean McDermott on backup players stepping into key roles: “The guys did a good job. Baylon Spector knew the game plan, prepared like he was going to start, and the results are the results. And then Ja'Marcus comes in and gets another big play for us and that's great to see. These guys work hard, so good things happen when you work hard.”
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: James Cook had record performance in Bills vs Dolphins game
