The Miami Dolphins lost for the sixth time in seven games on Sunday, dropping a 30-27 decision to the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium.

We classify and analyze the five most important plays of the game.

Safety Jordan Poyer said after the game that he thought he made a clean hit on Keon Coleman on the incomplete third down that turned into a first down when he was called for unnecessary roughness, but replays clearly showed helmet-to-helmet contact. While referees sometimes overlook that or don’t call it (as happened in the Seattle-Rams game when a similar flag was raised against the Seahawks when the replay showed helmet-to-helmet contact), it will also bring up one more flag. many times. And this was devastating because instead of Buffalo having to punt from their 31 and the Dolphins getting the ball back with a chance to win. The momentum remained alive. Poyer said he was just trying to make a play on the ball, but he was off target and the intent no longer mattered.

This may deserve to be the best play because you don’t see 61-yard field goals very often, especially from kickers who have been as inconsistent as Tyler Bass has been this season. But in what could be seen as evidence that anything that can go wrong for Miami will, Bass completely crushed the kick, doing so with plenty of room to spare.

The Dolphins had very little margin for error facing a team that is simply better than them, and they lost that margin when Raheem Mostert fumbled for the second time in three weeks, this time when Taron Johnson punched the ball away. . The Dolphins led 10-6 and were in Buffalo territory on that first drive of the second half before the fumble occurred, and the game became a back-and-forth from that point instead of maybe they could continue playing with an advantage.

The Dolphins allowed three touchdowns in the second half, but the second came after they appeared to have made a stop on third-and-goal from the seven-yard line, only to see cornerback Siran Neal flagged for defensive holding. The replay clearly showed Neal pulling on Khalil Shakir’s jersey, although DBs sometimes get their way. Neal didn’t do it on that play and Buffalo scored two plays later to take a 27-20 lead.

The first touchdown of the second half came on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line when a stop clearly would have made a big difference in that moment and perhaps in the outcome. Cornerback Kendall Fuller had former Dolphins wide receiver Mack Hollins in coverage, but found himself a couple steps back after Hollins ran down the field in the end zone.