Notes from the Bills’ 31-28 win over the Dolphins on Sunday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium:
— For the first time in the franchise’s 61-season history, the radio broadcast of a Bills road game was done from the Buffalo press box and in unpredictably difficult circumstances.
Play-by-play man John Murphy and fill-in color commentator Steve Tasker, due to coronavirus concerns, called the game off TV from a booth in Orchard Park. Indeed, regular analyst Eric Wood remains quarantined at his home in Kentucky and still can’t travel to New York state.
Then, of course, with the loss of power at Hard Rock Stadium, WGR engineers had to find a way to get Murphy and Tasker a video signal even though none was available from CBS. Of course, their broadcast was not only disrupted by the 20-plus minute power outage that knocked out the network telecast, but also the 36-minute lightning delay that necessitated the Bills’ broadcast crew unexpectedly having to fill that half hour.
— A week after Bills quarterback Josh Allen recorded the first 300-yard passing game of his career (312), he upped his total by 105. On the day he went 24-of-35 for 417 yards and logged his initial career four passing touchdown game. Indeed, he became the first Bill to notch back-to-back 300-yard passing games since Drew Bledsoe did it in December of 2002.
Allen’s 417 yards are tied for third on the Bills’ all-time list. Bledsoe tops it with 463 against Minnesota in 2002, second is Joe Ferguson with 419 in an overtime game at Miami in 1983 and Bledsoe had a 417-yarder against Oakland, also in ‘02. The only other Buffalo QB to throw for 400 yards was Jim Kelly at San Francisco (403) in 1992, the first no-punt game in NFL history.
— The Bills’ lone giveaway, indeed the only one of the game, came when tight end Dawson Knox had the ball knocked loose by Dolphins linebacker Kyle Van Noy and the loose ball flew to cornerback Noah Igbinoghene for the fumble recovery. Knox later left the game with a concussion.
— Buffalo’s initial sack of Dolphins’ QB Ryan Fitzpatrick was logged by defensive tackle Ed Oliver, his first of the season. Later end Mario Addison, the free agent from Carolina, got his second of the campaign and, finally, safety Jordan Poyer logged his first.
— Miami’s lone sack of Allen was shared by linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel and defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah.
— In an NFL first, two brothers, both long-snappers, faced each other when the Bills and Dolphins met yesterday afternoon. Buffalo’s Reid Ferguson and Miami rookie Blake Ferguson, separated in age by three years, became the first brothers playing that position to go head-to-head in a game.
— For the Bills, cornerback Levi Wallace, who was targeted often by Fitzpatrick, topped the team with 10 tackles, seven of them solos. Safety Micah Hyde hand nine stops with six solos. Linebacker Tyler Dodson, filling in for Tremaine Edmunds in the middle, had eight tackles as did Poyer. Linebacker A.J. Klein added five tackles replacing Matt Milano. Dolphins’ cornerback Nik Needham had a game-high 12 tackles. Former Bills Shaq Lawson, an end, had two tackles and a quarterback hit.
— Buffalo’s inactives were linebackers Edmunds, Milano and Del’Shawn Phillips, running back T.J. Weldon, quarterback Jake Fromm, offensive lineman Ike Boettger and tight end Lee Smith.
Linebackers Deon Lacey and Andre Smith were activated from the practice squad for the game.
Miami linebacker Eldon Roberts was the team’s only inactive starter.