Tua Tagovailoa of Miami is sacked by Buffalo’s Tremaine Edmunds on Sunday. AP photo
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills were intent on not easing into the playoffs, while ending the Miami Dolphins’ chances.
In a season-ending game in which the Dolphins had far more riding on the outcome, the Bills put an empathic stamp on their breakthrough year with a 56-26 rout on Sunday. In clinching the AFC’s second seed, Buffalo will host its first playoff game in 24 years by facing the the Frank Reich-coached Indianapolis Colts next Saturday.
For Miami, the loss left coach Brian Flores and the Dolphins on the outside looking in by squandering an opportunity to clinch just their third postseason berth in 18 years. Rather than taking care of their own business by clinching a playoff berth with a win, the Dolphins’ postseason ended with the Colts clinching the No. 7 seed by defeating Jacksonville.
“We’re just worried about today, that’s where my mind is — our performance today. It’s not on anything other than that,” Flores said. “It wasn’t good enough. Right now, I’m disappointed we didn’t play well today.”
Not even close.
The Dolphins (10-6) didn’t get results they needed earlier in the day after Cleveland beat Pittsburgh and Baltimore routed Cincinnati. And the team unraveled in all three phases in being exposed by a Bills team showing no signs of relenting in racking up the second-most points in team history.
After falling behind 3-0 on Jason Sanders’ 49-yard field goal, Buffalo responded by scoring four times in the second quarter to build a 28-6 lead at halftime. And the Bills didn’t let up in the second half.
Allen threw three touchdown passes and Isaiah McKenzie scored three times, including returning a punt 84 yards. The defense even got on the scoreboard with Josh Norman returning the first of three Tua Tagovailoa interceptions 16 yards for a touchdown.
Tagovailoa finished 35 of 58 for 361 yards and three picks — one more than he had all season — over the span of four second-half possessions.
The rookie from Ewa Beach, Oahu, closed the season with a 6-3 record, but didn’t have Ryan Fitzpatrick to bail him out this time — the veteran backup didn’t travel with the team after testing positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
“That’s not the way we wanted to go down. There are a lot of things to learn from,” Tagovailoa said. “All I can do is continue to grow, continue to get better.”
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