Finally healthy, Bills fans caught a glimpse of a productive offense that they were expecting to see with offseason acquisitions of LeSean McCoy and offensive coordinator Greg Roman.
The Bills attacked the Dolphins with a multitude of personnel schemes, and it was fun to watch.
Tyrod Taylor, Karlos Williams and Sammy Watkins each made their return to NFL action and made instrumental contributions across the board. Leodis McKelvin was also active for the first time this season.
The Bills defense had a strong goal line stand to end the first half, however they struggled at times throughout the contest. They were bailed out multiple times by poor clock management and coaching decisions from recently appointed head coach of the Dolphins, Dan Campbell.
Jerry Hughes made the biggest contribution of them all on a strip sack of Ryan Tannehill in the third quarter that gave the Bills the ball in Miami territory. Soon after, Taylor connected with Watkins down the right sideline on a 44-yard touchdown to give the Bills a 12 point lead, from which they never looked back.
Watkins had a career day, reeling in eight receptions for 168 yards and a score.
Taylor was as efficient as he will ever be, throwing just one incompletion and not turning the ball over at all.
McCoy recorded his first 100-yard rushing game as a Bill, while his counterpart Williams also chipped in a 100-yard rushing performance to give the Bills an actual two-headed rushing attack for the first time this season.
The Bills came in to this game in a must-win situation and did just that.
Five of the Bills’ next six games will come on the road, two in a row will be against divisional opponents.
The Bills are very much alive in the AFC Wildcard picture, and will need to show up big on the primetime Thursday night matchup against old friend Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Jets.
