MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Buffalo Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins was blunt in his assessment of the team's 30-13 upset loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
"They played harder than us. Simple as that," he said. "They came out, they played hard, they swung."
When asked why Buffalo didn't play as hard, Dawkins added: "Who knows? Maybe they had a good meal last night. I don't know. ... It's hard to be consistently good and we just have to hit the drawing board and remember that it's hard to win in this league every week, week in and week out. It's not just going to happen. ... So we got their best version of them today. And I tip my hat. Congrats to the Fins."
The Bills (6-3) didn't score until the fourth quarter, marking just the third time that has happened in a game since quarterback Josh Allen's first season with the team in 2018.
"It just was clear out there on the field," tight end Dawson Knox said. "They just had a chip on their shoulder, and they wanted to go out and prove something and definitely felt like they wanted it more."
The Bills got in a 16-0 hole in the first half that proved insurmountable as an injured defense struggled to get off the field.
The offense, meanwhile, had issues staying on it.
The unit had four drives that went three-and-out in the first half and two that lasted just six downs (one ended on a James Cook III fumble and the other on turnover on downs). Despite running the ball being a key to its offensive success this season, Buffalo ran it on eight of 24 plays in the first half, averaging 2.9 yards per carry. Cook finished with just 53 rushing yards; the Bills fell to 1-3 in games in which he rushes for under 100 yards.
The passing game couldn't pick up the slack, continuing its form for much of the season. Allen was 3-of-6 for 13 yards when targeting wide receivers in the first half, his fewest such yards in a first half (in games in which he has played the entire half) since Week 6 of the 2018 season (at Texans).
The downfield passing game only got going largely in fourth-quarter garbage time. Allen was 2-of-6 on passes of 15-plus yards in the first three quarters and 4-of-7 in the fourth. Wide receiver Keon Coleman caught three of his eight targets for 46 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Dalton Kincaid left the game in the second half with a hamstring injury.
"We've got to have better energy, and they came out flying and we just didn't answer the call right away," wide receiver Khalil Shakir said. "And you get so far back on your heels that it's hard to recover, so we just got to come out quicker, faster, play smarter football and overall complementary football, as well."
Added Allen: "They came ready to play. They wanted it obviously a little bit more than us. I've got to be better. We've got to be better in the protection game, in the pass game, in the run game, all of it."
The Bills' locker room was left searching for answers with multiple players unable to put their finger on exactly why the Bills' couldn't match the Dolphins' intensity, but there was a consensus on needing to keep a certain energy in practice.
"It's a week-to-week league," coach Sean McDermott said. "You've got to bring your A game every week. We talk about that a lot. We really do. We work our tails off during the week to come out, to your point, to play better and coach better and perform better overall. It didn't happen."