Breaking down the five plays that most decided the outcome in the Miami Dolphins' 30-13 victory against the Buffalo Bills
The Miami Dolphins ended their seven-game losing streak against the Buffalo Bills with a dominant 30-13 victory at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday. We rank the five biggest, most important plays of the game :This might be a controversial choice considering the Dolphins scored four touchdowns and got three takeaways on defense, but we'll go with the fourth-and-1 stop from the Miami 49-yard line after the Dolphins had taken a 7-0 lead.
The stop came when the Bills got fancy and called for a pass play instead of the usual Josh Allen sneak, and Tyrel Dodson forced a prayer of a throw to rookie tight end Jaxson Hawes well covered by Minkah Fitzpatrick.After taking over following the fourth-down stop, the Dolphins quickly extended their lead to 13 points on the first play of the second quarter when Jaylen Waddle beat rookie Maxwell Hairston in man coverage and then fought him off while being interfered to bring down a nice throw from Tua Tagovailoa. The Dolphins never led by less than double digits after that score.The Dolphins have been bad in the third quarter this season and it looked like more of the same on the first drive of the second half when Josh Allen was doing Josh Allen things to bring Buffalo inside the 10-yard line. But pressure affected Allen here, as it did a lot of the game, and he threw an errant pass in the direction of Dawson Knox in the end zone. Melifonwu came up with his first huge play as a member of the Dolphins to stop the drive.This play enabled the Dolphins to keep their 13-0 lead, and props go to Jack Jones for stripping the ball from James Cook's grasp as he was being tackled by Dante Trader Jr. This play helped keep Buffalo scoreless in the first half, and who knows how the game plays out if the Dolphins don't get that big defensive play.This was the final blow for the Dolphins because, while they had dominated from the start, it seemed like the Bills maybe had a fourth-quarter comeback in them when Allen broke through the line of the third-and-1 sneak and even was looking at a 10-yard gain into Miami territory. But big props here to Jordyn Brooks for the punch-out from the side while Allen was being grabbed by a couple of Miami defenders. The two De'Von Achane touchdowns would follow for the final 17-point margin, but this essentially was the game considering there was 7:10 left and Miami had a 10-point lead.Alain Poupart is the publisher/editor of Miami Dolphins On SI and host of the All Dolphins Podcast. Alain has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989 for various publications and media outlets, including Dolphin Digest, The Associated Press and the Dolphins team website. In addition to being a credentialed member of the Miami Dolphins press corps, Alain has covered three Super Bowls , the annual NFL draft, the Senior Bowl, and the NFL Scouting Combine. During his almost 40 years in journalism, which began at the now-defunct Miami News, Alain has covered practically every sport at one time or another, from tennis to golf, baseball, basketball and everything in between. The career also included time as a copy editor, including work on several books, such as "Still Perfect," an inside look at the Miami Dolphins' 1972 perfect season. A native of Montreal, Canada, whose first language is French, Alain grew up a huge hockey fan but soon developed a love for all sports, including NFL football. He has lived in South Florida since the 1980s.
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