Dolphins-Bills: Miami’s offense disappears, Kansas City waiting, thoughts on loss

The Buffalo Bills took the AFC East title and No. 2 playoff seed, and the Miami Dolphins will have to try to find their offense before next Saturday in Kansas City.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Dolphins’ 21-14 loss to the Bills in the regular-season finale at Hard Rock Stadium:

1. Play of the Game: Buffalo’s Deonte Harty catches the punt at the 4-yard line, darts up the middle and 96 yards later ties the game at 14-14 early in the fourth quarter. The 5-foot-6 Harty shouldn’t have caught the punt that close to the Bills end zone, but more than made up for it with a play that negated a game’s worth of big defensive plays that frustrated Buffalo and injected momentum into the Bills sideline. To add to the play’s pain, the Dolphins lost their second edge rusher on the night when Cameron Goode had to be carted off the field.

2. The Dolphins are the AFC’s sixth seed and open the playoffs in Kansas City for an 8 p.m. game on Saturday night. Win there, and they’d play at Baltimore in the second round. See how much this loss meant? With a win they would have got a rematch against Buffalo in Hard Rock Stadium and the chance for two games at home (three, if Baltimore would lose). Throw in the loss of the AFC East title and this was as expensive as a loss can be.

3. The Dolphins offense went dead in the second half. Nine plays from scrimmage until the defense made a fourth-down stop with 1:53 left in the game. Nine! The possessions: Three-and-out punt, three-and-out punt, three-and-out-punt … So after scoring 14 points and gaining 218 yards with 13 first downs in the first half, the offense was shut down by Buffalo’s fourth-ranked defense. Then they got the ball after the defensive stop at their 37-yard, got a couple of first downs to the Bills’ 40 and Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw a bad interception, his second of the night. After gaining 218 yards and having 13 first downs in the first half, the Dolphins had 57 yards and those two first downs in the second half.

4. Play of the Game That Wasn’t: Jerome Baker stopped Buffalo’s Ty Johnson at the 1-yard as time ran out in the first half. Buffalo had no time-outs and the ball at the Dolphins’ 11-yard line with 11 seconds left in the half. Throw in the end zone and, at worst, take a field goal? Bills quarterback Josh Allen gambled with a pass over the middle to Johnson, who cut upfield to the end zone where Baker made a big stop to keep the Dolphins 14-7 lead at half.

5. The Dolphins defense gave every chance to win this game. Just look at this stat: It had three takeaways from Allen in Dolphins territory. For a player who has a 10-2 record and 109.0 career quarterback rating against the Dolphins, Sunday night was the Dolphins’ night. Allen’s opening drive went to the Dolphins 3, where Eli Apple intercepted him. On the second drive, Allen missed a wide-open Stefon Diggs for a touchdown and then threw a Hail-Mary on fourth down from the Dolphins’ 35. DeShon Elliott intercepted it in the end zone. Then, from the Dolphins 21-yard line late in the third quarter, Christian Wilkins hit the trifecta — a sack of Allen, forced fumble and fumble recovery. The game-winning score came on a 5-yard pass from Allen to Dawson Knox in the fourth quarter after a 74-yard drive. But this defense played its butts off all night despite …

6. When Andrew Van Ginkel limped off the field with a foot injury in the third quarter, the question was where this team could find an edge pass rush. Melvin Ingram provided an answer a few plays later with a sack of Allen as part of a full blitz. But moving ahead this is a real concern for a defense that already had lost Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb for the season. Emmanuel Ogbah and Goode alternated on Sunday night. The question becomes how serious.