MIAMI GARDENS (CBS12) — Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills was, in many ways, a microcosm of the Miami Dolphins season so far. It wasn't very pretty for the most part, and things were looking extremely grim at times, but in the end the Dolphins stayed alive with a 21-17 win, keeping their playoff hopes alive by improving to 6-6 on the season.
Former Dolphins tight end Charles Clay couldn't snag a potential game winning touchdown toss to the endzone from Bills rookie quarterback Josh Allen, putting an end to what was another nail-biting ending for a Dolphins defense that gave up 415 total yards, and 135 rushing yards to Allen.
"I'm not frustrated about anything right now," said head coach Adam Gase after the game. "We won. That's all we cared about this week. We'll correct the things we need to correct."
Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill, on the other hand, was only able to muster up 175 yards of total offense, but threw for three touchdowns to Devante Parker, Kenyan Drake and Kenny Stills. Having three different touchdown targets was a great sign for an offense that's dealt with so many injuries to key contributors this season.
"You lose those type of guys," said Tannehill after the game. "You kind of have to shift what your attacking defense is, and change things, so it's tough to say exactly what our identity is at this point."
“When you get in the red zone, you’ve got to put points on the board," says Drake. "You want them to be touchdowns. We were able to do that today and it helped us get the W at the end of the day.”
Former Dolphins defensive tackle Jordan Phillips was animated and vocal the entire game in a Bills uniform, hungry for revenge against the team that released him back in October. But a taunting penalty from Phillips after a tackle for a loss on Stills extended a key drive, and eventually led to the game winning touchdown to Stills two plays later.
Xavien Howard pulled off his second straight two interception game with two picks on Allen. “I want to be a ball hog," said Allen after the win. "I want to be around the ball every time the ball is in the air.”
The Dolphins will now turn their focus to taking on Tom Brady and the (9-3) New England Patriots next Sunday at 1 PM on CBS12.