The Buffalo Bills bested their division rival Miami Dolphins 31-10 in South Florida during a short-week meeting to kickoff NFL Week 2 and Thursday Night Football.
With the win, quarterback Josh Allen improved to 7-0 on TNF and 12-2 against Miami in his career thus far.
And while Cook and the offense understandably received praise for their performance after the victory, much of that recognition was also directed towards the Bills defense.
“You know, you look at the stat sheet, I don’t, I don’t know what our numbers were, but I know we were really low in time with possession, and we were probably really low in total yards, but still managed to put up 31 points, and that, that means your defense is doing something, right? So they had our back tonight, and we’re going to need them going forward,” Allen said during his postgame media session. “And I’m just very proud of how guys stepped up into their to their roles, and they played together. You know, when you play together like that, you’re typically going to have good results.”
As Allen, Cook, and receiver Khalil Shakir were getting it done offensively, the same could be said about defensive tackle Ed Oliver and veteran outside linebacker Von Miller who each had sacks up front, as well as defensive backs Christian Benford (1) and J’Marcus Ingram (2) in the secondary, who both added interceptions.
“All 11 guys play together,” Oliver said. “If everybody do their job, it make it easy on everybody. Nobody has a hard down.”
Though Buffalo’s offense racked up three touchdowns in the first half by way of Allen and RB1 James Cook, who ran for two and added a third receiving, the rest of the team’s points came on Ingram’s second interception of the day, a pick six in the third quarter.
The defense shined on the day, limiting Miami receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle to seven catches and 65 total yards, and Miami to only 1-for-4 in the red zone and 47% conversion on third down opportunities.
The effort was also underscored by coverage of who have held in consecutive contests to , and also by players who stepped up due to injuries.
Third year linebacker Baylon Spector took over for captain and defensive play caller Terrel Bernard, who who suffered a tear to a pectoral muscle on the ninth play of the Dolphins opening drive and is projected to be out for a month. Ingram is sharing playing time with Cam Lewis filling in for nickle Taron Johnson who was out with a forearm injury, and linebacker Dorian Williams was playing in place of starter Matt Milano, who is out with a bicep injury until at least December.
Spector got off to a bumpy start on misdirection in coverage that allowed a De’Von Achane touchdown catch, but he settled in to tie Williams and safety Damar Hamlin with a team-high 10 tackles.
“Baylon Spector knew the game plan, prepared like he was going to start, and the results are the results,” head coach Sean McDermott said. “The speed’s different,the processing of that is a little bit different, but really pleased with how Baylon handled it. And really he went in there and did his job. He kept the game simple, executed his assignments and you felt the kind of the repercussions of that. So it was good to watch, fun to see.”
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