Josh Allen threw three touchdown passes, James Cook rushed for 108 yards and a score, and the Buffalo Bills took down the Miami Dolphins 31-21 Thursday night in Orchard Park, New York.
Allen completed 22 of 28 attempts for 213 yards, and his go-ahead strike to Khalil Shakir was the 200th regular-season TD pass of his career. Cook tied a franchise record by scoring a rushing touchdown for the seventh straight game dating to last season.
Terrel Bernard intercepted Tua Tagovailoa to end a late scoring threat and help Buffalo (3-0) stay undefeated. The Bills have won 13 of the past 14 regular-season meetings with the Dolphins.
Tagovailoa was 22-of-34 passing for 146 yards and two touchdowns before the crucial error. Miami fell to 0-3 for the first time since 2019.
Cook¡¯s 2-yard touchdown plunge made it 21-14 on the opening drive of the second half. The Bills had yet to punt at that point, but Miami finally forced punts on consecutive possessions before Tyreek Hill tied it with a 5-yard scoring grab with 12:18 left in the game.
The Dolphins would have forced a third straight punt, but Zach Sieler was penalized for roughing the punter and the Bills got a new set of downs. Shakir soon put Buffalo ahead on a 15-yard catch-and-run down the left sideline with 7:17 left to play.
Miami gained three first downs and reached the Bills¡¯ 21-yard line, but Tagovailoa forced a pass inside toward Jaylen Waddle and Bernard snagged it with three minutes to play. The Bills ran down the clock and Matt Prater tacked on a 48-yard field goal in the final seconds.
D¡¯Wayne Eskridge returned the opening kickoff 54 yards to hand the Dolphins good field position. An efficient drive concluded with rookie Ollie Gordon II¡¯s first NFL touchdown, a 2-yard run.
The Bills rolled down the field on their first series. Tight end Dalton Kincaid hauled in a leaping catch, then rumbled in for a 20-yard touchdown to even things.
The Dolphins went three-and-out on their next two possessions and were fortunate not to fall behind by two scores.
A 10-play Buffalo drive resulted in a 5-yard shovel pass to rookie tight end Jackson Hawes, his first career TD. But the Bills¡¯ third possession was cut short by a third-down sack by Bradley Chubb, and Prater missed a 39-yard field goal badly to the left.
Tagovailoa engineered a 16-play, 71-yard drive that used up the rest of the half. Hill caught three passes thrown to him on the drive, all on third downs, and Waddle cashed in a 3-yard reception with eight seconds left for a 14-14 game at halftime.
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