It’s really only been about a year now that most of us have settled into acknowledging the Buffalo Bills as favorites.
Favorites to win each and every week. Favorites to go to and, perhaps, even win the Super Bowl. Favorites to maybe even have their quarterback win the NFL MVP award.
It’s hard not to have high expectations when this is where we’re living now. A 14-point favorite at home against a team you shutout 35-0 six weeks ago on the road had many, including me, waiting on an easy win over the Miami Dolphins.
Yeah, so about that.
122 yards of offense in the first half. Only five first downs.
A 3-3 tie? With Miami?
Of course, the most important thing is to get the win, and the Bills did eventually get around to that. It wouldn’t be right to say the outcome was never in doubt when the game remained tied at 3-3 midway through the third quarter. Yet, the Miami offense was hardly a threat in this game, so a two-score lead felt pretty secure when it finally came early in the fourth quarter.
Cole Beasley was the man who finally got the Bills' passing game unlocked for Josh Allen. Touchdown passes on back-to-back drives late in the third quarter and early in the fourth put the Bills in front 17-3.
From there, it was simply a question of whether or not Tua Tagovailoa could lead a 14-point fourth quarter comeback for the Dolphins.
Ultimately, he couldn’t.
Tagovailoa did complete a very nice pass downfield to tight end Mike Gesicki on a 4th-and-6 that might’ve just about been the end of the game had Miami not converted. But they did, and Tagovailoa punched it in to make it 17-11 after a successful two-point conversion attempt.
The Bills would need an answer, and they got one. Though, much like most of the day, it wasn’t an emphatic door slamming answer.
This was more of a methodical bleed the clock, turn off some lights and maybe our guests will figure out that it’s time to leave type answer. Tyler Bass nailed his second field goal of the game to put the Bills back up by two scores.
Only 3:29 remained when Miami got the ball back, and the Bills' 14-play, six-minute drive forced them to use all of their timeouts.
A Jordan Poyer interception ended any comeback hopes for Miami and the Bills tacked on an Allen rushing touchdown to make the final score 26-11, covering the 14-point spread, for those so inclined to care about such things.
We spent a decent amount of time this week talking about how we’d handle anything but a complete dismantling of the Dolphins. I guess we’ll see how that’ll go.
If you’re worried about the form the Bills are in, I understand. Struggling before ultimately pulling away late to win comfortably was not what many of us had in mind. Yet, it was a 15-point win.
The most important thing, of course, is the win. The difficulty of achieving that win may serve as a reminder to us that week-in and week-out, whatever we may be expecting, coming out on top beats style points every time.
The schedule remains pretty soft with the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets up next. Likely being big road favorites will, again, test the fans' expectations as much as the opponents may test the Bills.
Let’s hang in there everyone. The top seed in the AFC is still very much in the window. Of course, it’s not a lock.
The difficulty in dispatching the Dolphins for much of Sunday should remind us all of that.
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