Miami’s Season Comes to an End as the Fins Fall Short to Buffalo – Game Takeaways

Unfortunately, one of the Florida teams had their 2022 season end on Sunday afternoon, and that was the Miami Dolphins.

Before Sunday’s Dolphins-Bills wild-card matchup, nobody was giving the Miami Dolphins a chance. For starters, starting QB Tua Tagovailoa was ruled out with a concussion.

Also, the Bills have been through so much through the 2022 season, including the Damar Hamlin situation, so they had a lot to play for.

It would also be Miami’s first time in the playoffs since 2016.

Despite Miami not giving up, the Fins would be knocked out of the playoffs. The Buffalo Bills did just enough to squeak by in a classic AFC rivalry, as they fought through the Miami Dolphins, 34-31.

The Dolphins still have not won a playoff game since 2000. However, a ton of credit needs to be given to Mike McDaniel’s squad. No one gave Miami a chance to win this game, but the Fins fought so hard, and only lost by a field goal.

1. Skylar Thompson is still a rookie.

Before the game, Skylar Thompson’s father drove 15 hours from Palmyra, MO to Orchard Park, NY to see his son play.

Did he play great? No, but for the situation that Skylar was put in, he showed some flashes. Skylar ultimately only completed 18-of-45 passes for 220 yards, throwing one touchdown while throwing two interceptions. However, there were a lot of dropped passes as Miami’s receivers failed to bail out Thompson, whether it was a good or bad throw. Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle’s dropped passes changed the trajectory of the game.

Skylar Thompson’s only touchdown pass came with 33 seconds remaining in the first half when tight end Mike Gesicki caught a seven yard touchdown pass in the middle of the end zone. The Fins then completed a two-point conversion to Tyreek Hill to tie the game at 17.

Despite scoring no touchdowns, Tyreek Hill led all Dolphins receivers with seven receptions for 69 yards. RB Salmon Ahmed had some action in the passing game, too, as he had three receptions for 45 yards.

RB Jeff Wilson Jr. struggled on the ground, recording only 23 yards on 10 carries, averaging a disappointing 2.3 yards per rush. However, Wilson did record a one-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 34-31.

2. The Dolphins Defense Did Its Job.

18 of Miami’s 31 points in the game came off of turnovers which resulted in short fields for Miami. Yes, the defense allowed a total of 423 total yards of offense, but they still played well.

Let’s give our hats off to the Dolphins secondary, as they forced Josh Allen into many mistakes.

Xavien Howard got the first interception with six minutes remaining in the second quarter, and he had a nice return of 49 yards, which set up a Jason Sanders field goal to cut the Buffalo lead to 17-6.

The second interception came with 53 seconds remaining in the first half when the ball went through Cole Beasley’s hands and deflected to Jevon Holland. That set up Mike Gesicki’s touchdown to tie the game at 17.

Coming out of the half, on Buffalo’s first possession, Miami took their first lead of the game. Eric Rowe got a strip sack on Josh Allen, forcing the ball out. Zach Sieler picked the ball up and ran it for five yards into the end zone for the Dolphins first and only lead of the game.

3. Josh Allen had an off day.

It seems like Josh Allen never plays well against the Dolphins. That showed Sunday. While Allen completed 23-of-39 passes for 352 yards and three touchdown passes, he threw the two aforementioned interceptions.

He got two big passes taken off the board, both within the final two minutes. One was a deep ball by Shakir, and the other was to Stefon Diggs in the end zone. They were both called back because there was not clear possession off the ball before touching the ground and going out of bounds.

Also, Allen got into a “hockey type of fight” Christian Wilkins, who seemed to have got into Allen’s head.

4. Is Mike McDaniel part of the epidemic?

Have you guys seen those vaping commercials everywhere on TV? Yes, the same fad teens love to do that is actually worse for your body than smoking cigarettes.

Well, early in the third quarter, while calling a play, Miami head coach Mike McDaniel seemed to have covered his mouth with a glove?!

Maybe this led to the miscommunication on the final play of the game where Miami had no timeouts and suffered a delay of game penalty because the play-clock was running down on 4th and 1. Anyway, the entire game featured communication issues for the Fins. Every drive featured multiple plays where the play-clock was winding down and the Fins hadn’t snapped the football yet.

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Ultimately, Miami’s season is now over while the Bills will get a second chance to host the Bengals, as they will be playing them this upcoming Sunday at 3 pm on CBS.

We will see what happens this offseason. Will Tua still be at the helm? Can Miami fix their cap space issues? Will the lack of draft picks haunt the Dolphins?

Only time will tell.