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Monday Morning Breakdown

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Eric Wood | 10 observations from the Bills at Dolphins game | Week 2

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1. Josh Allen over 400 yards passing

I think a lot of the receivers made plays for him. I thought he had a great game, and he was very accurate. He made a lot of big plays, even though there were some missed opportunities out there. I thought that the Bills offense executed so well, especially to the play-action game where they got a ton of yards down the field. It was an efficient day by Josh Allen and it's great because it hasn't happened for the Buffalo Bills since Drew Bledsoe in 2002.

2. Running backs improved from week one

When you add Stefon Diggs, you have three solid wide receivers in Cole Beasley, John Brown and Diggs and Josh Allen throwing the ball the way he is, that might be the focus of the offense this year. Last year the Bills were top 10 in rushing, and this year the Bills are going to air it out a lot more, especially while those guys are all playing at such a high level. For this running back tandem, it's going be about yards per carry, that's going to be their measurement this season. It appears, in week one they struggled but the Jets defense is solid against the run. This week, Singletary goes over five yards a carry, and Moss goes over four yards a carry and that's the type of production the Bills need from those guys this year.

3. Tyrel Dodson played well

I thought Dodson flew around and made a lot of plays. His intensity was noticeable from the opening jump, and throughout the game. He made his presence felt, even on the punt return late in the game when it looked like Grant was going to circle the punt team, Tyrel Dodson is the one that makes that play. I thought he had a great game and that's the type of performance they needed in trying to replace Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano. Was he perfect? No. There's going to be plays he wants back, of course, but for him to come in and play like that, he should be very proud of himself.

4. Fitzpatrick attacked Wallace and middle of the field

Last year, back in Orchard Park when Preston Williams and Devante Parker were both healthy, he threw at Levi Wallace and he did it again today. Obviously, he likes that matchup better than he likes Tre'Davious White and that's not a huge knock on Levi Wallace. Tre'Davious White is a top-two cornerback in the NFL right now, debatable between him and Stephon Gilmore, in my opinion. So, you're automatically going to be targeted more as a corner because of that. The Dolphins targeted the middle of the field because you have two of the most athletic, and elite linebackers in the NFL out of this game so just naturally there's going to be a drop off. There's going to be a lack of continuity there in the middle of the field with the backup linebackers. During the game, Miami ran a lot of play-action with crossing routes behind them, and Fitz was able to make a lot of plays over the middle of the field.

5. Third quarter woes

The worst thing you could do is put too much pressure on it and make it a thing. You just got to say hey we're going to keep doing what we do, and we got to take care of business. It might just be the way the game has fallen. There's a lull. you're never going to play a perfect game throughout an entire game. And so, it might just be where it falls but, right now they haven't scored a point the third quarter, through two weeks. Luckily today they only got outscored three to nothing because it could have been worse without the impressive goal-line stand on Sunday.

6. Josh's clutch comebacks

Josh is just the clutch player. His quarterback rating last year went up on third down, went up in the red zone and went up in the fourth quarter. Guys like that are clutch, some people have it, but it seems like the more pressure he's under, the better he plays. He's had a remarkable couple years now, in the fourth quarter, and that's an excellent characteristic for a quarterback to have.

7. Mario Addison has sack in back-to-back games

Mario Addison is a guy that Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane had a lot of comfort in bringing in having had him already in Carolina. There was a number of people that weren't as excited about it just because he's over 30 years old and he wasn't Jadeveon Clowney, the top pass rusher in free agency. Well through two games you're getting a return on investment, with two sacks through two games, and he's playing extremely well so far.

Scroll through to see photos of all the action as the Bills take on the Dolphins during Week 2, presented by Imagine Staffing.

8. Impact of Stefon Diggs

It's amazing the chemistry that he and Josh Allen already have. He's exactly what you wanted when you traded your first-round draft pick away for him. With the amount of plays that he's already made this year, what he's going to do is draw a lot of coverage towards himself and it's going to open up things for Beasley, Brown, Dawson Knox, etc. He is also going to help the run game because you're constantly going to have to put guys over the top of him. Josh Allen was really struggling to connect on the deep ball early last season, but this season, he started out hot throwing the ball deep.

9. Gilliam and Davis score first NFL touchdowns

This was a game where the offense had to play well. Gabe Davis made a remarkable catch late in the game on a third-down play. And, at that point if he doesn't catch that, Sean McDermott likely goes for the field goal and you have a tie ballgame. Instead, the Bills take a four-point lead to put the pressure back on the Dolphins. Also, earlier in the game tight end Reggie Gilliam scores by making a tough catch. Congrats to both players on your first NFL touchdowns.

10. Goal-line stand

The goal-line stand was huge. When you look back at it, the Bills hold them to zero points there and now the Bills are backed up on their next drive, and they punt it away. That gave the Dolphins a short field and they end up scoring on that drive. When you look back at the score and you have a three-point win, the goal-line stand that results in a turnover on downs becomes an enormous series. It also displays a lot of heart from the Bills defense. When you get backed up like that, first-and-goal from the one or the two, as an offense a lot of times you think you're just going to punch it in the end zone. On defense, the odds are that the ball is going to get punched in the end zone. So an unbelievable job by the defense to earn that stop.

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