Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - You might have hoped the back-to-back losses to the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons would represent the low point of the Buffalo Bills' 2025 season. You probably hoped the win over the Kansas City Chiefs meant the Bills were back on track.
Those hopes were crushed on Sunday as the Bills were trampled by a bad Miami Dolphins team, 30-13.
Five days after the NFL trade deadline passed without the Bills adding a wide receiver, the passing game once again was ineffective. At halftime, Josh Allen was 9-15 for 73 yards. He ended the day with 306 yards passing but the bulk of that came in garbage time with the contest basically decided.
It is a familiar theme, with an inability of wide receivers to get open. Allen is either making throws that are contested or is scrambling around, buying time while hoping he sees daylight between a target and the defender. Too many throws are behind the line of scrimmage or within two to three yards. Yards after catch are hard to come by because of the separation issue. Khalil Shakir is the Bills best wide receiver but passes to him are not going downfield. Shakir had just 58 yards on seven receptions.
The Bills best target in the passing game is tight end Dalton Kincaid but he suffered a hamstring injury on the first drive of the third quarter and was unable to return. Keon Coleman did have a 35 yard touchdown but too many times Coleman had a Dolphins defender draped all over on him when Allen came his way. Coleman caught only three of his eight targets.
As amazing as it is to say, if you stop running back James Cook you stop the Bills offense. When Cook and the ground game can't get good yards on first or second down, the passing game can't do the job and extend drives. While being shutout in the first half in Miami, the Bills had six drives which totaled 24 plays and 90 yards. That's an average of 3.7 yards a play. They went three and out on three of those six drives and then waved the white flag on a fourth drive where the Bills had three plays that went nowhere and let the clock run out.
The passing game is largely boring, predictable and too horizontal. The offense goes through Cook and for the third time this season, a Bills opponent was able to keep Cook in check which stymied the Bills offense. In the six wins this season, Cook has averaged six yards a carry, 121 yards a game and the Bills averaged 33 points. In the three losses, the numbers dropped to 4.2 yards a carry, 63 a game and an average of 15 points.
The problem is compounded by the fact that the Bills defense, wracked with injuries, can't win the game on its own. One week after winning its matchup against Patrick Mahomes and company, the Bills defense was shredded by Dolphins running back Da'Von Achane and to a lesser extent wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.
Achane rushed for 174 yards and a pair of touchdowns, one of which was an icing on the cake 59 yard burst. He averaged 7.9 yards a carry. The Bills tackling was horrendous with missed tackle after missed tackle. According to Next Gen Stats there were 11 missed tackles on Achane and 195 yards of his 225 total yards from scrimmage came after contact.
The Bills played without top cornerback Christian Benford who became the eighth different starter on defense to miss time this season. His absence definitely hurt. Rookie Maxwell Hairston got beat by Waddle on a few occasions including a 38 yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Hairston did have his second interception of the season but it was a rough day for him.
While the now 6-3 Bills were seeing their seven game win streak against Miami come to an end, the New England Patriots kept rolling. The Pats won at Tampa Bay, their seventh straight victory, and created a little more distance between themselves and the second place Bills. New England is now 8-2 and their next three games are against the Jets, Bengals and Giants. It's entirely possible the Patriots will be 11-2, and coming off their bye, when the Bills visit Foxborough on Dec. 14.
The Bills are in trouble, folks.
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