Week 2 Game Recap: Buffalo Bills 16, Miami Dolphins 6

What you need to know

Buffalo Bills

The Bills followed a recipe of conservative offense and aggressive defense to come away with the win at Miami. Buffalo’s running backs carried the ball 30 times, while quarterback J.P. Losman was asked to throw the ball just 18 times.

Buffalo featured Willis McGahee on most of their offensive plays, and he responded well, carrying the ball 25 times for 91 yards against a very good Miami defense. McGahee ran with good power between the tackles, and gained several yards after initial contact. The Bills made two trips inside the 20 yard line, and both times they ran McGahee on first down, albeit for minimal yardage. On one of the drives, the Bills ran McGahee’s backup Anthony Thomas twice, but settled for a field goal.

The Bills asked quarterback J.P. Losman to throw just 18 times, with most of his passes being of the short to intermediate variety. On Buffalo’s second trip inside the 20 yard line, after a short run by McGahee, Losman threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Roscoe Parrish, but it was called back due to a penalty on Josh Reed. As a result, the next two plays were pass attempts, but both passes – one to Parrish and one to Lee Evans fell incomplete. On one of the few deep pass plays that Buffalo called, Losman threw to Lee Evans, who drew a pass interference call on the defensive back trying to cover him, which gave the Bills a first down at the four yard line.

Buffalo’s defense enjoyed quite a bit of success against Miami, especially in the passing game. They sacked Culpepper six times, intercepted him once when Miami was inside the 20 yard line just before halftime, and applied constant pressure, forcing him into several hurried throws. One of the times they sacked Culpepper; they forced a fumble inside Miami’s 15 yard line, and narrowly missed picking it up and running it in for a touchdown. They also blocked a punt attempt and recovered it, which led to a field goal. Although Culpepper finished with 250 yards passing, a large portion of those yards as well as his lone touchdown came on Miami’s last drive, when Buffalo was in more of a prevent mode of defense. What made this performance even more impressive was that the Bills were missing four regular starters on defense.

Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins tried to establish the running game early, it seemed whenever they attempted to pass the ball, and Daunte Culpepper was under duress and was forced to either rush his throws or throw to an outlet receiver for short gains. As a result of falling behind, the Dolphins went away from trying to establish the run, and ended up having almost twice as many passing attempts as rushing attempts.

Ronnie Brown ran well with the limited touches he had, gaining 70 yards on 15 rushing attempts. He was also Culpepper’s favorite outlet receiver, snaring six catches for 52 yards. Brown showed a nice combination of power, elusiveness and speed, and appeared close to breaking several runs for longer yardage on several runs.

Daunte Culpepper was only able to get his team inside the 20 yard line once, and after throwing an incomplete pass to Randy McMichael, threw an interception while attempting to connect with McMichael in the back of the end zone, though McMichael was double-teamed. Culpepper was very accurate on his short to intermediate passes, completing 11 of his first 12 passes. This was mostly out of necessity, as he was under intense pressure from Buffalo’s defense. He was unable to convert many long passes, missing on a few attempts to Chris Chambers, including a two point conversion attempt after connecting with him for a touchdown late in the game. He did not have much opportunity to scramble, as he was able to elude Buffalo’s pass rush and scramble for positive yards just once. On one occasion in the second half, he was hit on his left knee by a Buffalo defender, and he appeared to limp when he got up, but he seemed to shake it off, and completed the game.

Miami’s defense was also aggressive, and though McGahee proved to be a tough runner, they held him to a 3.64 yards per carry average. Seeing Buffalo did not ask Losman to take many risks passing the ball, the Dolphins did not have many opportunities to make plays in that phase of the game.

What you ought to know

QB J.P. Losman, Pass: 11 - 18 - 83 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 10 - 0

Losman did a good job of managing the game. He was under control most of the time, and did not try to force the action when his receivers were not open. He seemed to know where his players should be, and was decisive with his throws, though most of them were of the intermediate to short variety.

RB Willis McGahee, Rush: 25 - 91 - 0, Rec: 1 - 6 - 0 (1 targets)

McGahee ran very effectively though the Dolphins keyed their defense to stop him. He showed a good combination of power between the tackles, and on a few occasions showed good acceleration. McGahee was in the game on third down most of the game, although he was not targeted much in the passing game.

RB Anthony Thomas, Rush: 5 - 4 - 0 (1 targets)

Thomas was not much of a factor, though he did get two carries inside the 20 yard line, though he lost yardage on both attempts.

WR Josh Reed, Rec: 4 - 39 - 1 (4 targets)

Reed was not thrown to in the first half, but made the most of his opportunities in the second half, converting all of the targets thrown his way, including a four yard touchdown reception.

WR Lee Evans, Rec: 2 - 19 - 0 (6 targets)

Evans was targeted deep once on a pass designed to be caught at the goal line. Other than that, he was used mostly on intermediate routes, as Buffalo utilized a conservative game plan throughout the contest.

WR Peerless Price, Rec: 2 - 12 - 0 (3 targets)

Price was used exclusively on short pass plays, and was not much of a factor.

WR Roscoe Parrish, Rec: 1 - 4 - 0 (4 targets)

Although he only caught one pass, Parrish did have a 19 yard touchdown called back due to a penalty on one of his teammates.

TE Robert Royal, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (1 targets)

Royal was used mostly as a blocker in this game.

PK Rian Lindell 3 - 3 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 10 points

Lindell enjoyed a perfect afternoon, easily completing all three of his field goal attempts, from 33, 45 and 43 yards, and one point after attempt.

BUF Rush Defense

Buffalo’s rush defense gave up 4.67 yards per carry to Ronnie Brown, but was not tested for the majority of the game, as Miami had to resort to throwing the ball more as after they fell behind. Brown was able to run successfully up the middle against the Bills’ defense.

BUF Pass Defense

Buffalo’s pass defense was outstanding. They sacked Culpepper six times and pressured him on numerous occasions. They gave up the short pass, but were more than up to the task when Culpepper attempted to throw longer passes. On the rare occasions Culpepper got a deep pass off, the Bills’ secondary covered the Dolphins’ receivers well and did not allow a completion longer than 26 yards, which came toward the end of the game on a great catch by Chris Chambers.

QB Daunte Culpepper, Pass: 23 - 32 - 250 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 1 - 7 - 0

Culpepper showed very good accuracy on his short passes, but encountered great difficulty when attempting to throw long, in large part to the relentless pressure applied by Buffalo’s defense. He was inconsistent, at times making difficult throws, but at times missing open receivers. His decision making was in question when he had an opportunity to get his team on the scoreboard for the first time at the end of the second half, but threw into double coverage and was intercepted. He did not scramble much, electing to stay in the pocket for the majority of the pass plays, but kept getting back up despite being hit repeatedly during the game.

RB Ronnie Brown, Rush: 15 - 70 - 0, Rec: 6 - 52 - 0 (6 targets)

Brown ran for a high yards per carry average (4.67) though on limited carries. He also displayed a good knack for getting open in the passing game, and converted all of his targets for positive yardage, averaging just less than nine yards per reception. Brown showed a good combination of power, speed and elusiveness on many of the plays he was involved in.

RB Lee Suggs, Rush: 3 - 12 - 0

Suggs had a minimal role in the game, but managed to average four yards per carry on his three rushing attempts.

RB Darian Barnes, Rec: 1 - 13 - 0 (1 targets)

The fullback made the most of his one target, dragging several tacklers for a 13 yard gain on his one reception.

WR Chris Chambers, Rush: 1 - 3 - 0, Rec: 4 - 55 - 1 (10 targets)

Chambers was more involved in the second half of the game, with seven of his targets coming in the second half. Chambers could have had more receptions, but Culpepper missed him on a couple of occasions, and on other times he was covered by multiple defenders. He did show very good hands when the ball was thrown near him. He was the target on Miami’s two point conversion attempt that fell incomplete.

WR Wes Welker, Rec: 5 - 41 - 0 (5 targets)

Welker was effective on short routes in addition to his return duties. He displayed good hands, catching all of his targets in traffic.

WR Marty Booker, Rec: 3 - 33 - 0 (3 targets)

Booker converted all of the targets thrown to him. He was used mostly on shorter routes, and displayed good ability to run in traffic after the catch.

WR Cliff Russell, Rec: 1 - 9 - 0 (1 targets)

Russell was only involved in the last play of the game.

WR Derek Hagan (1 targets)

Hagan was not a factor in this game.

TE Randy McMichael, Rec: 3 - 34 - 0 (6 targets)

McMichael was effective on short passes, but was not involved much in the second half, and only targeted once. He was targeted in the end zone, but was double covered on the play. McMichael showed good running after the catch ability on a couple of his receptions.

PK Olindo Mare 0 - 1 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 0 points

Mare missed his only field goal attempt, which was from 55 yards. He had plenty of distance, but missed to the right. He did not have any point after attempts.

MIA Rush Defense

Miami played the run decently, holding the Bills to a 3.28 yards per carry average. However, they were not able to shut Buffalo’s running game down when they needed stops, and were on the field for an extended period of time.

MIA Pass Defense

Miami’s pass defense was not challenged much in larger part to Buffalo focusing on shorter passes. They were called for a pass interference penalty on a deep pass play that resulted in Buffalo getting the ball on the four yard line, from where they scored a touchdown. When Losman did go back to pass, Miami invariably blitzed him, though they did not get to him many times, sacking him twice.