Tua Tagovailoa’s career record against the Buffalo Bills now stands at 1-9. And for 60 minutes, the Dolphins and their QB seemed determined to rewrite that script. They fought, they clawed, and they made it a game. Right up until the moment they didn’t.

The final score, Bills 31, Dolphins 21, feels both inevitable and profoundly unfair. The Dolphins, now 0-3 on the season, proved they had fight, answering every Buffalo score with one of their own for most of the night. But the ultimate gut-punch came late in the fourth quarter. With Miami down 21-28, Tagovailoa threw a pass to WR Jaylen Waddle, but LB Terrel Bernard, who seemed to come out of nowhere, intercepted it.

It was the kind of soul-crushing turnover that seals a team’s fate. After the game, a visibly emotional Tagovailoa didn’t mince words, making no secret of where it went wrong. “Yeah, I thought I was in rhythm in timing of the play,” Tagovailoa began. “Seeing the flat defender go over the top of Jaylen and Jaylen’s is turning around. I think that was a really good play by the defender.”

Adding that he had “some color” in his face, trying to maneuver the ball, he continued, “Ten out of 10 times before looking at that same thing, I think I still try to work on the timing of hitting that. I think the linebacker made a great play on that.” But it wasn’t just about that single play; it was about the wider, more damning narrative of the night.

It marked the QB’s third straight game with at least one interception. Yes, he ended the night with a decent stat line: 22-34 for 146 yds, 2 TDs, and that 1 brutal INT, but the numbers only tell half the story.

The other half is painted in plays like Jordyn Brooks’s roughing-the-passer penalty, or Zach Sieler’s roughing the kicker, which extended a Bills drive that ultimately led to a Khalil Shakir TD. The defense, after doing its part to get the ball back, saw its efforts go to waste.

Tua Tagovailoa calls for collective responsibility

Tagovailoa’s comments were laced with a wider frustration. “I would say there was, I guess, emotion of wanting to get this thing right for each other, right?” The QB demanded more from his team. “Offensively, defensively, and in special teams,” he continued. “I think that the biggest thing as we kind of looked at this game, is when defense gives us those opportunities to go explore, we gotta go and put points on the board and vice versa.” He felt the weight of the night on his shoulders, a weight that his team wasn’t helping him carry.

This is a franchise at a crossroads, where the blame feels less like an arrow and more like a heavy, shared burden. The Bills’ offense, led by Josh Allen, racked up 360 total yards and dominated time of possession 31:47 to Miami’s 28:13, while allowing only 2 sacks. The Dolphins’ offense, meanwhile, managed 276 total yards.

Allen threw for 3 TDs and their ground game, led by James Cook, was a dominant force, and they still won by double digits. As Jordan Schultz put it on X, the Bills are a “wagon.”

The Dolphins, meanwhile, feel a bit like a car with a flat tire, and Tua is the one trying to convince everyone the lug nuts are just a little loose. What he’s really saying is the whole thing is coming apart, and you can’t fix it with one magical play or one good throw. He demanded action because the action they’re getting so far has left them with nothing but losses (Injury included).