Plays That Defined 2021: Buffalo Bills at Miami Dolphins

Welcome to Plays That Defined 2021! This ain’t your usual game recap. Here’s what to do. Pretend you’ve just written a novel and it’s time to select the cover art. You want a single picture that tells the reader what it’s all about, right? That’s the deal here. Vote for the play that best tells the “story” of this game. Which GIF is the best “cover art” for...

Week 2: Buffalo Bills at Miami Dolphins

After a lackluster performance in Week 1, the Buffalo Bills looked to tune up on the Miami Dolphins. And boy, did they ever. What more is there to say except for “35-0.”

Devin Singletary TD (Q1, 12:41)

The Buffalo Bills didn’t waste time with this 46-yard touchdown run from Devin Singletary putting up points barely more than two minutes after the game started. Does that sound impressive by itself? Well consider the following: The Dolphins started with the ball. Further, from a stats perspective, this was an unusually run-oriented day. Zack Moss added two TDs of his own and the running game contributed nearly half of the 314 total offensive yards. Side note: This was technically the game-winning score.

Greg Rousseau’s first sack (Q1, 5:59)

Greg Rousseau’s takedown of Jacoby Brissett gets the nod for “defining” sack of this game. That’s primarily because this is his first career sack and one of two for him down in Miami. This was the third sack of the game, with six total. Before exiting the game, Tua Tagovailoa had been sacked more times than he had completions. For the stat lovers, he had been sacked twice compared to one completion on four attempts.

Taron Johnson forced fumble (Q2, 9:58)

Buffalo forced three turnovers, helping shut out the Dolphins. The forced fumble by Taron Johnson stopped the Dolphins at their closest point to the end zone all day. So close to putting points up and it all vanished in the blink of an eye.

Dawson Knox TD (Q3, 11:48)

From a statistical perspective Josh Allen had a mostly ho-hum kind of day. From a “I actually watched the game perspective” it was pretty clear that Allen’s lack of stats wasn’t an indicator he had lost his magic from the year before. I think most fans would have liked a more efficient game in some respects (comp %, Y/A). That said, this throw is pretty insane.

Fourth-down stop (Q4, 1:15) - Dolphins attempted 4. Converted 0

Last but not least is the final fourth-down attempt by the Dolphins. Miami went for it on four separate occasions. They converted none. This was against mostly backups and Miami would have converted if not for a dropped catch. This was their last attempt to put points up and save face, but as an illustration for the entire game it does a good job representing the other 11 drives they had a chance at too.

Now for what we’ve all been waiting for! A shot to vote