The Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills combined to play a legitimately entertaining and competitive Thursday Night Football game with an outcome that was very much in doubt until Tua Tagovailoa was picked off by Terrel Bernard late in the fourth quarter. And the AFC matchup didn't suffer from a chronic lack of points considering the 31-21 final tally enjoyed by the still-undefeated Bills.
What the game didn't have, though, was any type of meaningful downfield passing. Like, any quarterback successfully throwing the ball to a teammate past the sticks at all. Thanks to Next Gen Stats we know just how much dinking and dunking was being conducted by Tua Tagovailoa and Josh Allen.
Josh Allen & Tua Tagovailoa combined to average 1.5 air yards per completion, the lowest mark in a game in the NGS era (since 2016).
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 19, 2025
Allen attempted only one pass over 10 air yards, while Tua completed as many passes behind the LOS as past it (11 each).
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Allen, who had three touchdown throws and appears well on his way to another NFL MVP award, didn't even bother attempting more than one pass that had over 10 air yards. Tagovailoa did most of his passing work behind his own line of scrimmage, completing as many passes behind it as beyond it. Combined the duo came in at 1.5 air yards per completion, the lowest ever since 2016. And possibly before it since that's when they began tracking this kind of thing with computers.
That seems bad, but is it? It was a pretty good and entertaining game. Mike McDaniel may have preserved his job in a loss. Buffalo is feeling really good about their ability to win with differing attacks. Best of all, neither quarterback needs to ice their arm the morning after.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Josh Allen and Tua Tagovailoa Combined to Dink and Dunk at a Historic Level .
