Faced with what was essentially a must-win situation, the Miami Dolphins gave the buffalo bills all they could handle Sunday afternoon in Orchard Park.

But Sean McDermott’s team once again overcame a slow start and ultimately took a hard-fought 30-27 victory thanks to another strong performance from Josh Allen and, of course, a dramatic 61-yard field goal from Tyler Bass in the last seconds. .

Buffalo wasn’t perfect by any means, but a win is a win. Now 7-2, the Bills are essentially a lock to win the AFC East for the fifth consecutive season, as they have a full four-game lead over second place. New York Jets With eight games to play.

It’s not that the Bills can’t lose the division, but it’s highly unlikely. Now, with two wins over the Dolphins, they will win the tiebreaker if Miami magically turns things around. They also beat the Jets once, with their second matchup scheduled for Week 17.

Buffalo also has its two games with last place New England Patriots There remains to be played, which will take place in weeks 16 and 18. So, again, this race is over. But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves and start looking at Buffalo’s potential playoff opponents for the time being.

For now, let’s take a look at some winners and losers from the Bills’ win over the Dolphins.

Let’s start (pun intended) with the biggest winner of the day: Tyler Bass.

It’s no secret that Bass struggled at times early in the season. Things even got so bad that Buffalo brought in competition. And for a minute against Miami, it looked like those problems were back, as he missed an extra-point attempt after Mack Hollins’ touchdown catch to open the second half and nearly missed another later, bouncing off the post and in.

But McDermott put full faith in his kicker in the end, and it resulted in the longest field goal in franchise history, breaking the previous mark of 59 yards, set by Steve Christie in 1993. Bass received the game ball in the locker room. and became extremely emotional, which is understandable given his up-and-down season thus far.

Obviously this was one of the advantages and will only give you more confidence moving forward.

Okay, so Josh Allen threw an interception for the second week in a row, bringing his season total to two, which is obviously still phenomenal given his past issues with turnovers.

But beyond the election, the NFL MVP candidate played another good game, particularly in the second half.

Very inconsistent through the first 30 minutes, Allen settled in and threw all three of his touchdown passes in the second 30, eventually finishing the day having completed 25 of 39 passes for 235 yards. His 17 touchdown passes are now tied for fourth in the NFL.

And let’s be real here. His little touchdown pass to Quintin Morris in the fourth quarter was ridiculous.

After beautifully filling in for James Cook a few weeks ago against the Jets, rookie running back Ray Davis didn’t get many touches over the next two games.

And it’s not like the fourth-rounder touched the ball that often against the Dolphins. But when he did, it made it worth it.

The Bills opted not to play on the ground as often on Sunday, running the ball just 19 times. But Davis got four of those carries and ran for 20 yards. But he did much more damage as a receiver, catching two passes for 70 yards, 63 of which came on a dynamic catch-and-run touchdown in the third quarter that helped Buffalo take a 20-13 lead.

Davis has become a fantastic second option in the backfield, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to start seeing him get more opportunities as the season progresses.

As has happened several times this season, the Bills struggled to get things going in the first half against the Dolphins, only to rally in the final 30 minutes to earn a victory.

Sunday marked the fifth time this season that Buffalo fell behind at the break, a group of games that includes their losses to the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. In those five games, Buffalo was outscored 75-29 in the first half, winning the second half by a combined margin of 96-41.

Overall, the Bills have outscored their opponents 146-58 in the last 30 minutes, including a 24-17 lead over Miami on Sunday. In fact, they have an overall margin of +13 in the first half (121-108), but if we take away their 34-3 advantage, they faced the lowly jacksonville jaguars in week 3, it drops to -18.

The ability to adapt is, without a doubt, a great quality that a team must have. But if the Bills continue to decline early, especially when facing better teams, their luck will eventually run out.

After the Bills allowed the Ravens to rush for 271 yards in Week 4, Buffalo’s run defense improved greatly over the next four games, allowing just 84.0 yards per game.

But they took a step back on Sunday, allowing the Dolphins to rush for 149 yards and allow 4.8 yards per carry.

It obviously turned out not to matter against Miami as the Bills got the win. Still, with upcoming games against several teams with strong running attacks, it’s certainly something to watch.