Josh Allen stars as Bills take charge late to beat Dolphins

Josh Allen threw three touchdown passes, James Cook rushed for 108 yards and a score, and the Buffalo Bills took down the Miami Dolphins 31-21 Thursday night in Orchard Park, N.Y.

Allen completed 22 of 28 attempts for 213 yards, and his go-ahead strike to Khalil Shakir was the 200th regular-season TD pass of his career. Cook tied a franchise record by scoring a rushing touchdown for the seventh straight game dating to last season.

Terrel Bernard intercepted Tua Tagovailoa to end a late scoring threat and help Buffalo (3-0) stay undefeated. The Bills have won 13 of the past 14 regular-season meetings with the Dolphins.

Tagovailoa was 22-of-34 passing for 146 yards and two touchdowns before the crucial error. Miami fell to 0-3 for the first time since 2019.

Cook’s 2-yard touchdown plunge made it 21-14 on the opening drive of the second half. The Bills had yet to punt at that point, but Miami finally forced punts on consecutive possessions before Tyreek Hill tied it with a 5-yard scoring grab with 12:18 left in the game.

The Dolphins would have forced a third straight punt, but Zach Sieler was penalized for roughing the punter and the Bills got a new set of downs. Shakir soon put Buffalo ahead on a 15-yard catch-and-run down the left sideline with 7:17 left to play.

Miami gained three first downs and reached the Bills’ 21-yard line, but Tagovailoa forced a pass inside toward Jaylen Waddle and Bernard snagged it with three minutes to play. The Bills ran down the clock and Matt Prater tacked on a 48-yard field goal in the final seconds.

D’Wayne Eskridge returned the opening kickoff 54 yards to hand the Dolphins good field position. An efficient drive concluded with rookie Ollie Gordon II’s first NFL touchdown, a 2-yard run.

The Bills rolled down the field on their first series. Tight end Dalton Kincaid hauled in a leaping catch, then rumbled in for a 20-yard touchdown to even things.

The Dolphins went three-and-out on their next two possessions and were fortunate not to fall behind by two scores.

A 10-play Buffalo drive resulted in a 5-yard shovel pass to rookie tight end Jackson Hawes, his first career TD. But the Bills’ third possession was cut short by a third-down sack by Bradley Chubb, and Prater missed a 39-yard field goal badly to the left.

Tagovailoa engineered a 16-play, 71-yard drive that used up the rest of the half. Hill caught three passes thrown to him on the drive, all on third downs, and Waddle cashed in a 3-yard reception with eight seconds left for a 14-14 game at halftime.