Speak about your 4th quarter meltdowns, this was probably one of the worst in Buffalo Bills history. Four turnovers, a safety, and a shoddy performance by the entire team resulted in the Miami Dolphins to embarrass the Bills 25-16. The score was closer than the actual play on the field.

The Bills allowed the Dolphins to take over the game in the final quarter, but there were signs right from the start that this game was going to be trouble for the Bills to win. On the opening drive, Chad Pennington showed that he can throw a long ball after all as he hit Ted Ginn on the first play from scrimmage for 46 yards which set up the opening score. Then Ginn had a 64-yard reception later on to set up yet another score.

The Dolphins were hurting in their secondary as they had several players out with injury, but that didn't help the Bills who had trouble taking advantage of that.

Pennington threw for 314 yards, and Ginn had 175 yards receiving. Ricky Williams was revitalized and the Bills fell down to the pack in the AFC East as a result of the loss. The Pats won so they are now tied with Buffalo.

In the end, the Bills self-destructed every way possible and lost to a team they had no right losing to.

Bills fans are playing this game Monday in trying to determine exactly who is at fault for the collapse in the everglades. Trent Edwards has taken his share, but maybe the coaches should step forward and admit they made a huge mistake in playing an injury hampered Terrence McGee the entire game. From the get-go, the Dolphins targets the Bills weak link in the secondary and had amazing success.

McGee was the target of Pennington on the first play from scrimmage when he connected with Ted Ginn for 46 yards. During the next possession, Pennington hit Ginn for 64 yards. Was it time to take McGee out? Not according to Bills head coach Dick Jauron. He kept him in and McGee kept on getting burnt.

"I had an opportunity and I took it," said Ginn about going up against a gimpy McGee. "I tried to run as fast as I could with it and as far as I could with it."

McGee will probably be keeping a low profile this week, if the media allows him to. After his performance Sunday against the Dolphins, he has been made the prime target of fans and media for the Bills loss.

McGee admits that he wasn't 100% and was a step behind on every play.

"I felt a step behind anybody who was out there," admitted McGee. "My mama could have been out there and I’d have felt a step behind."

Along with McGee, the Bills offensive line was offensive again, not run blocking and their pass blocking was even worse. On the other side of the ball, the Bills were not getting any pressure on Pennington and the secondary had a huge hole called McGee to contend with. The result of all these negatives was a loss in Miami.

While Trent Edwards is willing to shoulder a lot of the blame for the Bills lost to Miami, he is not alone for causing the meltdown in the second half. Sure, Trent had the ball ripped away from him when he was stretching to get extra yards on a 4th down quarterback sneak. That one is on him, but the other turn overs have to be put on the offensive line which wasn't giving Edwards time to throw. On the safety, they blame the fumble in the endzone on Edwards, but he was being sacked anyway and Jason Peters allowed Joey Porter to get in alone on him.

The Bills defense didn't get anywhere the amount of pressure on Chad Pennington that Edwards felt. And McGee had a horrid day against Ted Ginn, who had a 7 catch, 175 yard game.

With all that, it was the turnovers that really cost the Sabres the game.

"It's about big plays and turnovers," alluded Bills coach Dick Jauron. "When you get that many big plays and that many turnovers, it's hard to recover. It's just really hard to recover."

Copyright © 2008 Bills Thunder & Rick Anderson, all rights reserved.