Bills report card: Buffalo's depth fuels title over Dolphins, could lead to deep playoff run

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - The Buffalo Bills will tell you, over and over and over, that it takes every man on the roster to win games, and sometimes you roll your eyes because it always smacks as one of those vastly overused sports clichés.

But Sunday night, when Josh Allen said it, and Dion Dawkins said it, and Jordan Poyer said it, and probably some other players who I didn’t get around to talking to in the locker room said it, you had to concede that, at least as it pertained to their resiliently remarkable 21-14 victory over the Miami Dolphins, they were right.

Sure, Allen, Dawkins, Poyer, Stefon Diggs and a few of the other usual stalwarts played their customary critical roles like they always do. But this victory – which seemed so out of reach for most of the night thanks to all the mistakes the Bills made – was delivered in large part by a group of players who haven’t done a whole lot throughout Buffalo’s 11-6, AFC East division winning season.

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“It speaks volumes about those guys and who they are, their DNA,” coach Sean McDermott said. “They're not household names and they haven't been all season, but they continue to work and they're ready to go when their number's called. That's how it's been all season long. That's how you win.”

Start with Deonte Harty, who has looked like a free agent bust all year before he ripped off the game-changing 96-yard punt return in the fourth quarter. Earlier, another free agent wide receiver who had produced very little, Trent Sherfield, took over for injured Gabe Davis and made a great catch of a deflected pass for the Bills’ first touchdown.

There was linebacker Baylon Spector, filling in for injured Tyrel Dodson, playing snaps during a second half when the Buffalo defense blanked the high-powered Dolphins offense. There was cornerback Dane Jackson, stepping in for injured Rasul Douglas, breaking up a key third-down pass in the fourth quarter with the score tied 14-14.

And then at the very end, with hearts pounding out of chests all around Bills Nation, there was safety Taylor Rapp intercepting Tua Tagovailoa at the Buffalo 22 with 1:13 remaining to seal the victory.

Without a doubt, this time it truly was a 46-man, three-phase, one heartbeat, total team victory that enabled the Bills to earn the No. 2 seed in the playoffs and at least one home game, perhaps two and, hey, maybe even three in the next month.

“It says a lot about the depth we have, but it talks a lot about the type of character we have in the locker room,” Allen said. “Guys that haven't been asked to do a whole lot and maybe at times being frustrated or not happy with the role that they have on this team, but not complaining, not getting upset, finding a way to help this team win games and make football plays, and you saw that tonight.”

Here’s how I graded the Bills:

PASS OFFENSE: A-

Look, I know Allen committed three turnovers, all of them taking potential points off the scoreboard and on most nights, the Bills would not have been able to overcome that. But when it was over, and all the swearing about the plays the Bills, and Allen specifically, messed up had ceased, he was gigantic in crunch time.

He completed 30 of 38 passes for 359 yards with TD passes to Sherfield – OK, that was a little lucky – and the game-winner to Dawson Knox with 7:16 left to play which came at the end of a magnificent 74-yard drive.

And all around Allen, so many players made big plays. Khalil Shakir had a 28-yard grab to set up the Knox TD and finished with a game-high 105 yards; Diggs reemerged with seven catches for 87 yards; Dalton Kincaid was a stud with seven for 84; and Knox shook off a rough game where he committed two penalties to fight through a tackle at the goal line to score his TD.

RUN OFFENSE: B-

This was not a stellar night for James Cook, and that’s been a rarity for him lately. He couldn’t get loose and finished with just 36 yards on 13 attempts, 14 coming on one carry, and of course, he dropped a sure TD pass late in the second quarter.

Leonard Fournette replaced Latavius Murray as the big back and he gained 20 tough yards and was a key man on the handful of QB sneaks Allen needed to execute to convert third downs as he was doing his best imitation of the Philly tush push.

And then there was Allen, who killed the Dolphins like he always does with big runs on his way to 67 yards, none more impactful than his 15-yard scramble on third-and-13 on Buffalo’s last possession, which milked more than four minutes off the clock. Allen had 426 yards of total offense, strengthening his case as the most exciting, volatile and outrageously talented QB in the NFL.

PASS DEFENSE: A

The Bills caught a break when WR Jaylen Waddle and RB Raheem Mostert were ruled out of the game because both of those players, particularly Waddle, are so important to Miami’s passing game. Still, this was a fantastic performance by McDermott's defense as Tagovailoa threw for just 173 yards and was picked off by Rapp and Christian Benford.

Tyreek Hill had to carry a big load for Miami, but while he made his usual array of plays, he finished with just seven catches on 13 targets for 82 yards and a TD. That’s a nice night for most receivers, but for a guy with more than 1,800 yards this season, that was a nice neutering by Buffalo.

Jackson deserves major credit because Douglas has been one of the Bills’ best players since coming over from Green Bay at the trade deadline, so losing him could have been a big blow with Hill running through the secondary. But Jackson, just as he did when he stepped in for injured Tre’Davious White, more than held his own.

As expected, it was going to be tough to sack Tagovailoa and the Bills never did, and there wasn’t a whole lot of pressure, but the secondary really did a stellar job making everything difficult for Tagovailoa.

RUN DEFENSE: C+

One thing I did not expect was that the Dolphins would run all over the Bills, and in the first half, that was a worrisome trend. At the half they had 100 yards on 17 attempts, 25 coming on a dazzling touchdown run by speedy De’Von Achane while Jeff Wilson was ripping off chunks, too.

But in the second half, the Dolphins had possession for just seven minutes, managed a mere three first downs, and they ran only three times for eight yards. Ed Oliver was a beast and his snap count was 88%, a season high. The stat sheet showed just one tackle, but he and DaQuan Jones were stout in the middle and helped the rest of the defense do its thing.

Terrel Bernard and Taron Johnson led the way with nine tackles, Jordan Poyer had six and Jones and Spector had four each.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A

Harty, who has basically been a free agent bust, certainly saved his biggest play of the season for the most opportune moment, the fourth quarter of the final game as he broke a stunning 96-yard punt return that tied matters at 14-14. Harty clearly has game-breaking speed, but the Bills never found a way to use it on offense, and he hasn’t really given them anything in the return game, until Sunday.

Having watched the Patriots return a kickoff for a touchdown last week, McDermott likely gave Tyler Bass the directive to take advantage of the warm Miami air and kick the ball out of the end zone, which he did all three times. The rest of his contribution came in the form of three successful extra points.

Sam Martin punted only once, a 41-yarder that was fair caught inside the 20, and because of that and Bass, neither coverage unit was called on to make a tackle.

COACHING: A-

Joe Brady can’t be blamed for the failures of the offense in the first half. There were plays available throughout, and the Bills simply failed to execute. Brady can’t be blamed for three Allen turnovers, for Davis and Allen miscommunicating, or for Cook dropping a sure TD pass. The Bills moved the ball, they just couldn’t finish drives and it was because of the players, not the coaching or the play calls.

In the second half, as the Bills held the ball for 23 minutes, Brady got Allen into a much better rhythm and Allen was able to spread the ball around and play more in control.

On defense, the Bills had terrible back-to-back drives in the second quarter when Miami drove 75 and 80 yards with ease for a pair of touchdowns. After that, McDermott outcoached Mike McDaniel and the Dolphins offense did nothing. And hey, McDermott making those fourth-down calls at the end, even though the second one didn't work? I loved it. He sensed a chance to put things away, and went for it.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out twice a week during the season, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills report card: Josh Allen, Buffalo's depth fuel title over Dolphins