Hyde10: Defense humbled, offense neutralized, Bills too much – 10 thoughts on Dolphins 48-20 loss to Buffalo

Buffalo showed it’s still the class of the AFC East at the quarter-pole. The Greatest Show on Surf got humbled a bit. The Dolphins defense, more than a bit.

Bills 48, Dolphins 20.

Here are 10 thoughts on the game:

1. Player of the Game:  Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen completed 21 of 25 passes for 340 yards and four touchdowns before being replaced in the fourth quarter. Any questions of his game sinking were vastly exaggerated as he kept his mastery over the Dolphins.

2. Stat of the game: 8.7 yards a play. That’s what the Bills averaged through three quarters when they were going full out and Josh Allen wasn’t replaced by Kyle Allen. To put that number in perspective, Kansas City led the league last year averaging 6.3 yards a play. That tells you how much work this Dolphins defense has.

3. So, the question becomes how much longer defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s defense will need to become good. Average, even. There was always going to be a learning curve for a defense built on man-to-man coverage and blitzing to learn a nearly opposite way. Buffalo’s 48-point day showed just how out of sync this defense is right now. There’s questions for the players – defensive tackle Christian Wilkins didn’t have a tackle through three quarters – but the first question is going to go to Fangio. He’s built great defenses everywhere he has been and there’s no reason to think he won’t here. The question is how long that will take.

4. Tua Tagovailoa was outstanding the first three games, and Sunday started out that way on his two touchdown drives to start the game. But when Buffalo got a lead, its pass rush was freed up some and it got to Tagovailoa in a way that disrupted this timing offense. In the first three games, Tua was hit five times, including one sack. Buffalo hit Tua seven times and sacked him twice. That pass rush, in turn, exposed the vulnerability to Tua’s game: He can’t run. They don’t want him to run at all, too, for good reason. When Josh Allen wants, he can take off and run as his 11-yard touchdown run showed. That’s not Tua’s game. Through his quick reads and great accuracy, he can clean up in a clean pocket. When Buffalo started to get a pass rush, the day grew tougher for the Dolphins offense. That leads into …

5. Left tackle Terron Armstead got up off the field late after a second-quarter play and walked right into the tunnel and the locker room with trainers. He’s been hurt enough to know when he’s hurt his knee again. You can appreciate his talent and feel for anyone who gets hurt like he has through his career. You can also wonder why the Dolphins rolled the dice knowing he was such an injury question he averaged more than five games missed a year with injuries. He missed the first two games this year, played a game-and-a-half and now is hurt again. The good news for the Dolphins is Kendall Lamm looks like a quality back-up. He’s not Armstead when healthy. Then again, can you count on Armstead being healthy?

6. Cornerback Kader Kohou was very good his first three games this year, but that changed whn Buffalo set up Stefon Diggs to go after him. Josh Allen found the matchup every time. Diggs had five catches for 107 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. That didn’t tell the full story of that half, either. Kohou was flagged for three penalties, two of which resulted in a first down and the third was on Diggs’s 55-yard touchdown catch. On the other side, Xavien Howard was neglected. Allen made his choice where he was going. He kept going there when Diggs was isolated on Kohou in the third quarter for a 13-yard touchdown that made it 40-20.

7. Raheem Mostert has a sure-handed career, fumbling just five times in 506 carries entering Sunday – or once every 101.2 times. Sunday was a different story. He fumbled twice in the second quarter. The first time, the Dolphins were fortunate as Braxton Berrios fell on it at their 20-yard line when down 21-14. The second time, Bills linebacker Matt Milano knocked the ball loose from Mostert and linebacker Terrel Bernard recovered it at the Dolphins 34. The defense held there but Tyler Bass kicked a 53-yard field goal to make it, 31-14. Buffalo entered Sunday leading the league in takeaways with nine.

8. So where does this leave the Dolphins? Look at their next four games: New York Giants at home, Carolina at home, at Philadelphia and New England at home. That’s to get to the No. 5 game against Kansas City in Germany followed by a bye week. Sure, sure, anything can happy. But building in some issues they shouldn’t be any worse than 6-3 heading into the soft part of the schedule with games against Las Vegas, the New York Jets twice, Washington and Tennessee.

9. Quick Hits:

A.Buffalo lost two starting cornerbacks, Tre’Davious White and Taron Johnson, Sunday. White suffered an Achilles injury and looks gone for the year.

B. Liam Eichenberg wasn’t noticable in replacing an injured Connor Williams at center – and that’s a good thing.

C. Cincinnati is 1-3 after being blown out by Tennessee and not looking the same with an injured Joe Burrow.

10. Next Week: Giants at Dolphins. The other half of New York’s bad teams comes to Hard Rock Stadium. The Giants play Monday night against Seattle, meaning they’ll be on a short week with a road trip to South Florida. The Giants’ 1-2 record doesn’t tell the full story of their start. Their lone win was by three points against Arizona. They lost 40-0 to Dallas and 30-12 to San Francisco. They had a lot go right in making the playoffs last year. They got a lot to get right heading into Monday night.