Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill passed for two late touchdowns to lift the Dolphins to a 22-9 home win over Buffalo on Thursday, ending a run of three-straight losses.
Tannehill was sacked five times, but completed 26 of 34 passes for 240 yards and threw touchdown passes to Brandon Gibson and Jarvis Landry. Lamar Miller rushed for 86 yards for the Dolphins, who trailed 9-3 before outscoring Buffalo 19-0 over the final 18 minutes.
“It was great to swing the tide,” Landry said. “It was good not to be the little brother.”
Photo: AFP
The Dolphins improved to 6-4, their best record after 10 games since 2008.
“You have to start playing good football this time of the year,” coach Joe Philbin said.
The Bills, trying to end a 14-year playoff drought, fell to 5-5.
Stymied by Buffalo’s front four in recent meetings, the Dolphins had scored just one touchdown in 33 possessions against the Bills before late TD drives of 80 and 63 yards. That was quite a rally by a team that had not won a close game all season.
Otherwise, a stout defense did the heavy lifting for Miami, who scored a safety on a penalty.
The Bills, ranked last in the NFL in red-zone touchdown efficiency, mounted grinding drives of 67 and 85 yards on their first two possessions, but Miami held them to a field goal each time, and those were their best TD chances.
The Bills have reached the end zone once in their past nine red-zone trips.
“In the first half, we had two drives we didn’t finish,” coach Doug Marrone said. “In the second half, we just didn’t play well.”
The Dolphins, also ranked poorly in red-zone efficiency, missed chances early themselves. They came away with three points from trips inside the 20 on their first two possessions, and did not reach the end zone until 42 minutes into the game.
With the Dolphins leading 12-9, Landry lost a fumble on a kick return, but their defense again dug in and forced Buffalo into a 47-yard field goal attempt that former Dolphin Dan Carpenter missed. He made earlier attempts of 33, 21 and 46 yards.
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