Bills Kick Dolphins – Again!

If you didn’t expect the Bills game against the Miami Dolphins to be a fight to the end, you’re probably a new Bills fan. The Bills eventually outlasted a desperate Dolphins team 30-27, in a game that easily could have gone the other way. Who knew the game would eventually come down to Tyler Bass? Uh oh?

This rivalry almost isn’t a rivalry for young Bills fans, but many of us remember when they OWNED the Bills, winning over 20 straight at one time. It’s almost even though now. In 121 meetings, the Dolphins have won 62 and the Bills 58.

Even though the win, on the leg of a 61 yard Bills franchise record field goal from Tyler Bass with :05 remaining, all but locked up a 5th straight AFC East title, there are still lots of disappointed skeptics out there. Beating Miami for the 6th game in a row and 14 times out of the last 15 isn’t enough?

I’m trying to understand it.

Not that everything was perfect. The Bills made mistakes, and overcame some questionable officiating, but they won. It’s an old cliche but it’s true: good teams find a way to win. But just how good ARE the Bills? The Bills are 7-2, but among the wins only Arizona has a winning record, and losing to the Ravens and Texans is a resume glitch.

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The Bills are a great family too, and Sean McDermott deserves a lot of credit for this. We all know Bass had been struggling, at least by perception, since last season, and he was well aware he was living on borrowed time. Kickers were openly brought in for tryouts. Subtle, huh?

But guess what?

Statistics often lie, but by the numbers, Bass is the 2nd most accurate Bills kicker in team history. Going into this season, Bass hit 84.4% of his FG attempts since 2020. He’s made 14 of 21 50y plus FGs. Only Dan Carpenter’s 86.5% success rate was better. Comparisons? Steve Christie 78.3%. Scott Norwood 72.3%.

Some of the ire is over the fact Bass has missed 8 of his last 240 PAT kicks, but keep in mind they are no longer an easy chip shot. Despite the 61 yarder and successful FGs of 40 and 49 yards, a missed PAT earlier was not forgotten. Many Bills fans have urged the Bills to replace Bass, but fail to come up with a plan to make the position better. Kickers are easy to find. GOOD kickers not so much.

McDermott surprised a lot of people by sending Bass out to to attempt 61 yard FG with :05 left in a tie game. There was even a slight headwind, but then again, Bass has been extraordinary handling Buffalo’s unpredictable weather.

Usually.

How bad was it for Bass, after missing a late game tying FG attempt in an eventual 3 point loss to the KC Chiefs in last year’s Divisional playoff round? He had to deactivate all his social media accounts, and received several death threats.

But there’s a flip side too. After that miss, the Bills Mafia kicked in $400,000 to Bass’s favorite charity, the Ten Lives Club. This game winner has already brought in another $7,000 for his charity from Bills Mafia. Bass eventually reactivated his social media accounts. Some kitties are happy too.

But the scene in the Bills locker room after his 61 yarder was crazy. The kick might have been good from 70. McDermott choked up giving Bass the game ball, and Bass was just as emotional thanking his teammates for staying behind him. After the game Josh Allen gushed over his kicker, saying “I love him and always believed in him”. The Bills all roared in approval as Bass held up the football.

A quick tid bit here. When the Bills drafted Bass in the 6th round out of Georgia Southern, they saw a video of Bass kicking a 50 yard FG – without taking a step forward! Now THAT is some leg! Right from his rookie season in 2020, Bass impressed his teammates and coaches with his ability to shrug off bad weather. He’s made many clutch kicks in terrible conditions, and he never lets a bad one carry over. That confidence is still there.

Would ALL teams react this way after a kicker won a game for them? Not sure. But it does make it obvious this is a close knit group.

And despite the skepticism of some Bills fans, the majority of fans at the game were totally cheering Bass on.

Back to the game. The Bills focused on taking away home runs from Tagovailoa to speedsters Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, while not stacking the box against the run. They did keep this pair out of the end zone. But boy did the Fins run. They averaged 4.8 yards per carry in gouging the Bills D for 149 yards. Greg Rousseau was terrific, with 3 tackles for loss and a sack along with several pressures. But the Bills were shoved around up front and some missed tackles didn’t help. Tagovailoa’s quick release made it tough to get to him, and he was on target hitting 25-28 for 224 yards and 2 TD’s with no INTs. Knowing his concussion history, I actually held my breath when he ran for a late first down and dove head first.

How can you not admire that? No way would I be playing under the circumstances, but I like courage when I see it.

But as perfect as Tagovailoa was, Allen was better. We’ve become used to it. He did suffer just his 2nd INT, and it wasn’t his fault. Rookie WR Keon Coleman dropped a sure TD on a slant near the goal line, and the ball was caught by a Dolphins DB. Rookies learn. No doubt the ball got to him more quickly than he expected and that cost him. Coleman injured his left wrist later in the game, and no word yet on how serious it might be. Former Bills safety Jordan Poyer helped his old team win with a helmet to helmet hit on Coleman that kept the Bills winning drive alive.

Back to Allen. The Dolphins dared him to throw the ball downfield, hoping Allen might make a mistake or two. They didn’t think he would stay patient with the short stuff, but he did. He was 25-39 for 231 yards and 3 TD’s. He also had a beautiful 20 yard TD run called back by a questionable holding call.

Allen even added one more highlight to a growing reel of improbable TD passes, by avoiding a rusher to throw a little lob to TE Quintin Morris from the 2 yard line. One of Allen’s TD passes came on a perfect connection to Mack Hollins on 4th down.

The Bills missed having newly acquired Amari Cooper, as he sat one out with an injured wrist.

We talked about the Dolphins run game, but the Bills averaged 4.9 per carry for 94 yards. Rookie Ray Davis made the offensive play of the day not with a run, but as a quick outlet pass receiver who turned a short Allen pass into a 63 yard TD. This Bills draft class keeps on giving.

There was one point late in the game where it looked like Allen may have injured his right (throwing) hand, but nobody asked him about it in the post game Q&As. He’s still wearing a protective glove on his left hand.

The Bills can’t let up, even by putting the Dolphins into a funk. With Tua healthy, they’re a LOT better than their 2-6 record. The Jets and Pats are down there too, as the Bills look to be in great shape to win a 5th straight AFC East title, with 8 games to play! The Bills would be the AFC’s 2nd seed right now behind the Chiefs. Those pesky Chiefs, with Mahomes and Swift and the gang will be here Nov 17th, but the Bills can’t look past the Colts this Sunday. The Colts benched their rookie starter Anthony Richardson (44% completion rate) and look much better with veteran Joe Flacco. They looked good – especially defensively – in a 21-13 loss at Minnesota to fall to 4-5. The Bills are an early 4.5 point road favorite.

The NFL is a week to week league. Bass can go from hero to bum in one game.

Ever notice that Bass wears eye black only under one eye? It started in his college days as a tribute to his Grandma.

How can you not pull for this guy?

Editor’s babble: I LOVE this post. Many thanks to Ed Kilgore for his contributions to our blog. You can also find Ed on Xwitter @Kilgore2Ed.