Dolphins suffer crushing loss to rival Bills as Tagovailoa knocked out with concussion

Some wondered if perhaps the offseason roster changes for both the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills would result in a changing of the guard in the AFC East.

On Thursday night, it was more of the same for the Dolphins when it came to facing their longtime division rivals.

Led by Miami Central High alum James Cook’s three touchdowns, the Bills continued to dominate the Dolphins as they handed Miami a deflating 31-10 loss at Hard Rock Stadium.

“I think we’re a team that’s feeling supreme disappointment,” McDaniel said. “We put a lot into it and we have high expectations, and you can’t even evaluate appropriately when you give it away and give it to the opponent giving them extra possessions especially to a team like [Buffalo).”

The lopsided result was potentially not even the biggest setback for the Dolphins (1-1), who lost to the Bills (2-0) for the fifth consecutive time and 12th time in the past 13 meetings.

That came with the Dolphins already trailing by the final margin with 4:36 left in the third quarter when starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was hit hard by Bills safety Damar Hamlin and knocked out of the game with what was later diagnosed as a concussion.

Tagovailoa, who signed a four-year, $212 million extension before the season, sustained a concussion for the third time in his career.

“We’ll find out some more information tomorrow as far as where Tua is at,” McDaniel said. “He’ll spend some time being evaluated and we’ll have some conversations about what is appropriate.”

Tagovailoa was rushing for a first down on fourth-and-4 from the Bills 13 when Hamlin hit just before he went to the ground. Tagovailoa remained on the ground for a few moments while being attended to by team trainers. He then got up and walked off the field slowly under his own power.

Skylar Thompson entered at that point and would finish the game. Four plays after Tagovailoa’s exit, Thompson was sacked by Von Miller resulting in a loss on downs, and effectively ending realistic hopes of a comeback.

Three interceptions by Tagovailoa earlier in the game put the Dolphins on their path to defeat.

Tagovailoa completed 17 of 25 passes for 145 yards and threw one touchdown pass to De’Von Achane, who was Miami’s lone bright spot, finishing with 96 yards rushing on 22 carries and 76 yards receiving on seven catches.

In addition to the three turnovers, the Dolphins also went 0 for 4 on fourth-down conversions, including two before Tagovailoa’s injury.

Ja’Marcus Ingram came up with two of Buffalo’s interceptions, including the Bills’ third with 9:26 left in the third, which he returned 31 yards for a touchdown. On the play, Tagovailoa was under intense pressure and tried to throw the ball away out of bounds. The ball did not reach the sideline, allowing Ingram to pick it off and return it untouched to the end zone.

Ingram’s first pick came on Miami’s first drive when he hauled in a ball that bounced off intended receiver Grant DuBose’s shoulder pad.

The turnover set up Cook’s first touchdown — a 17-yard reception on fourth-and-3.

Tagovailoa’s second interception came with 41 seconds left in the first when he overthrew Robbie Chosen and threw it right into the hands of Christian Benford.

Buffalo turned that one into points as well as Tyler Bass’ 43-yard field goal put the Bills ahead for good.

“There was a lot of high expectations for the game knowing that it was going to be a tough one,” McDaniel said. “Playing a good football team when you’re minus-3 [turnovers] and (not making) the fourth downs and no one saw that. You might be able to win one out of 100 with the nuts and bolts of that.”

Cook, who finished with 78 yards and two touchdowns rushing on 11 carries, broke loose for a 49-yard score, somersaulting into the end zone to give Buffalo a 24-7 lead with 3:36 left in the first half.

Tagovailoa wasn’t the only potential costly injury the Dolphins suffered Thursday.

Miami’s offensive line took a couple of hits as left tackle Terron Armstead sustained a shoulder injury and exited the game in the fourth quarter. Left guard Robert Jones also left the game with a shoulder injury.

Running back Jeff Wilson Jr. also went into the locker room early in the fourth quarter with an oblique injury and did not return, further depleting a backfield that was missing Raheem Mostert, who sat out with a chest injury.

“I think we have enough veteran players who understand the belief will come from within. We know what’s going to be said about us. It’s probably going to last for a while and we’ll have plenty of opportunities to take the sheer frustration and anger out on the way we approach our jobs day in and day out,” McDaniel said.

“It’s also very much Week 2 and our first division game and it feels way bigger than that because there’s a lot of history to this matchup and a lot of things we thought we were going to take care of that definitely were not taken care of. It’s a gut check for the team early in the season. It’s a loss that really cuts deep, but that depends on how you respond to it.”