Bills hit walk-off field goal to thwart Dolphins rally attempt. Miami loses third straight game

The Dolphins could only watch during the timeout, as a handful of Buffalo Bills players cleared snow on the ground at Highmark Stadium, paving way for the kick that would once again leave them short of a much-needed victory.

And after Tyler Bass’ 25-yard attempt went through the uprights as time expired, sealing a 32-29 loss for Miami in Orchard Park, New York, on Saturday night, several Buffalo players slid belly first onto the snow-coated field, celebrating a fifth consecutive win, a clinched playoff berth and one step closer to winning the AFC East.

The Dolphins’ slide would continue too, but it would be a third consecutive loss that makes the remaining three games in the regular season even more important for a team trying to hold on to its playoff positioning.

“It would be weak-minded of any player or coach on the Miami Dolphins to have less confidence from this game going into next week,” coach Mike McDaniel said after the Dolphins’ sixth consecutive defeat in Buffalo. “That would just mean that they’re sick of being vulnerable.”

In the final game of three consecutive road matchups that took them to the West Coast and ended in Western New York, the Dolphins (8-6) at times showcased the best version of themselves in front of a nationally-televised audience, less than one week after falling short against the Los Angeles Chargers on the prime-time stage.

Miami’s offense tapped into its running game against the Bills (11-3) in ways it rarely has this season, rushing for 188 yards and 7.5 yards per carry. Tua Tagovailoa rebounded from his worst stretch of the season, throwing for 234 yards and two touchdowns, including a 20-yard score to Tyreek Hill (nine catches, 69 yards) that gave the Dolphins a 26-21 lead late in the third quarter.

A defense battling injuries in the secondary forced four consecutive Buffalo punts in the second half. Christian Wilkins then recovered a Jaelan Phillips strip-sack of Josh Allen in the fourth quarter; the takeaway led to a 47-yard field goal by Jason Sanders that gave Miami a 29-21 lead with 12 minutes remaining.

And for all the talk in the lead-up to the game about the Dolphins’ ability to play in inclement weather, it wasn’t much of a factor, with snow only starting to fall early in the fourth quarter.

“I thought we as a team handled the elements pretty well,” Tagovailoa said, “for a team that comes from 80-degree weather. And I think for our team, after this performance, we’re able to put that to rest, that we can’t play cold-weather teams.”

Ironically, though, the game started to turn in favor of the home team as the snow picked up.

Allen, the Bills quarterback who improved to 8-2 as a starter against the Dolphins, orchestrated a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive — Allen accounted for 55 yards on the possession, including a 44-yard scramble — capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass to Dawson Know. Allen (381 total yards, four touchdowns) later tied the game on a 2-point conversion attempt in which he leapt over the line of scrimmage to get the ball just over the goal line.

The Dolphins’ final possession of the game began optimistically, with Tagovailoa completing two consecutive passes to Hill and Cedrick Wilson for first downs. But the offense that rallied from a 21-13 halftime deficit stalled and Miami punted back to the Buffalo 7 with 5:56 left.

As was the case in the previous losses to the Chargers and San Francisco 49ers, the Dolphins’ defense needed one more stop, one final big play it had made throughout the second half.

But as snow swirled around Highmark Stadium and the game neared its conclusion, the Dolphins watched Allen and the Bills methodically work their way down the field for 15 plays, each taking up every last second on the game clock. A 21-yard defensive pass interference penalty on Kader Kohou, who was defending Isaiah McKenzie on third-and-6, placed the ball at the 13-yard line and effectively sealed Miami’s fate with 45 seconds left.

In all, it was a performance valiant enough to remind the Dolphins of their potential — and of the close margins for the team they aspire to be.

Miami could be happy with their second-best rushing total of the season — Raheem Mostert (season-high 136 yards) and Salvon Ahmed (43 yards, one touchdown) shouldered the load with Jeff Wilson Jr. inactive because of a hip injury — but wrestle with third-down struggles (5-for-14) that resurfaced. Those issues were especially glaring in the red zone, where the Dolphins went 1-for-3. Of the Bills’ five trips to the red zone, only one didn’t end in a touchdown — the game-winning field goal.

And the Dolphins could be proud of their defensive turnaround in the second half but lament another late-game drive they squandered.

“If this is how games are going to be, down to the wire, then so be it,” Tagovailoa said. “It really shows how much you need to execute, offensively, defensively, special teams, in all phases of the game to come out with a win against a team like this.”

The Dolphins’ playoff odds only dropped from 70 percent to 66 percent after the loss, according to FiveThirtyEight’s projections, as they still possess the sixth seed in the AFC. But after leading the AFC East at the beginning of the month, their chances of winning the division are all but gone. Miami’s clearest path to the postseason still lies in winning their divisional matchups against the New England Patriots and New York Jets in Week 17 and Week 18. A Christmas Day home game against the Green Bay Packers precedes those key dates.

On Saturday night, with icy snowballs pelting their sideline from fans Tagovailoa called “electric,” the Dolphins once again proved how good they can be. Now, can they take that next step, with their season on the line?

“We’re not into moral victories at all. We’re gonna learn from it,” said wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, whose 67-yard touchdown brought the Dolphins to within 2, 21-19, in the third quarter.

“They did a good job and won the game, obviously, but we’ll learn from it and go back to the drawing board. We’ve got three more games to go out there and compete.”