MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - There’s nothing all that enjoyable about having to play two NFL games in the span of five days, especially when the second one is on the road against one of your fiercest rivals.

Well, there is one exception to that situation: When you win them both, as the Buffalo Bills did, and then it’s entirely enjoyable, deliriously so, and that’s the feeling Sean McDermott’s 2-0 team had as it departed Miami with a 31-10 blowout victory over the Dolphins.

“In a short week, a great team win,” McDermott said. “All three phases factored in the win, which is good to see. Still a lot of work to do, but we'll enjoy this plane ride home, the players will be able to get some rest, and some of the coaches as well, and staff, so it'll be good.”

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Beating Arizona felt like a given, even though the Bills had to work hard to pull that one out. But there were several factors working against Buffalo Thursday night, particularly on the defensive side of the ball as the Bills had to play against Miami’s explosive offense without Taron Johnson, and then lost Terrel Bernard in the first few minutes.

But players like Baylon Spector, Cam Lewis and JaMarcus Ingram all stepped into the spotlight and by night’s end, the Dolphins had only 10 points and 351 yards despite more than 36 minutes of possession time.

“We've got a lot of new players and whatnot, and you're never really sure,” McDermott said. “There's so many unknowns starting a season and we come back the first week of the season and win. And I think that was a step for us, for any team to be able to say that you can do that, you can play in close games. And then this game, being able to come down here in a short week at their place and play like we did. We played our style of football.”

Here’s how I graded the performance:

PASS OFFENSE: C

This was one of the rare games where Josh Allen really didn’t need to do a whole lot, either as a runner or a passer. Normally, he’s a one-man wrecking ball when he played the Dolphins, but he was nothing more than a game manager as he passed for only 139 yards while throwing one TD on a swing pass to James Cook, and ran for only two yards on two carries. Allen threw only six passes in the second half.

With Buffalo’s defense giving him great field position all night, Allen only needed to produce one long scoring drive, a masterful 85-yarder where he hit Khalil Shakir for a 21-yard gain and then threw a beautiful 33-yarder to Ty Johnson on a third-and-12 where it looked like he was going to run but pulled up when Johnson came open, a play that carried to the 1.

It was a quiet night for everyone in the receiver room with the exception of Shakir who continues to catch everything thrown his way, five for 54 yards in this game. TE Dalton Kincaid was a bit more involved as he caught four passes for 33 yards, but again, the Bills just didn’t need to throw the ball to win. As for Keon Coleman, it was a goose egg for the rookie on just one target.

RUN OFFENSE: B

Cook had himself a night. He scored three touchdowns in the first half, two on the ground, one through the air, tying a Bills record for most TDs in a first half. He scored from the 1 following the pass to Johnson to make it 17-7, and less than three minutes later he broke a 49-yard scoring run around right end.

On his other 10 carries, though, Cook had only 28 yards so there’s still some room for improvement. Ray Davis got some work, particularly in the second half, though he finished with only 29 yards on nine attempts.

Without Allen contributing, the rushing total wasn’t overwhelming - 108 yards and a 4.2 average, but when the Bills needed to run, they did as the line created some nice holes.

PASS DEFENSE: A

Tyreek Hill has never had a 100-yard game against the Bills in a regular season game, not with Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City and not with Tua Tagovailoa in Miami. He was about as invisible as he could possibly be in this one, catching just three for 24 yards.

And Jaylen Waddle, the other half of Miami’s dynamic, speedburning duo, was equally muted with four catches for 41 yards. Tagovailoa looked out of sync from the very beginning as he threw two interceptions in the first quarter, had a turnover on downs when he was sacked by Ed Oliver in the second quarter, and then threw a ridiculous pick-six early in the third to JaMarcus Ingram when the Bills were in their dime defense.

Ingram had the first pick and Christian Benford the second, while Von Miller recorded his second sack of the year, his coming right after Tagovailoa was knocked out of the game with a head injury, as he nailed Skylar Thompson on a fourth-and-goal play that essentially ended the game with nearly 12 minutes remaining and Buffalo up by 21 points.

RUN DEFENSE: C+

De’Von Achane, who was questionable to play with an ankle injury, was the lone Miami offensive player who balled out. He led the Dolphins with seven catches for 69 yards and a touchdown, catching several short passes which were essentially long handoffs, and then when he carried the ball in the run game, he torched the Bills for 96 yards on 22 attempts.

No one else did anything, though Tagovailoa converted two third downs with scrambles totaling 17 yards, though the second one proved devastating because he suffered a concussion and had to leave the game. Spector, Dorian Williams and Damar Hamlin were all in on 10 tackles and each one for lost yardage. But the middle of the line got pushed around far too much and that has to be addressed.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B+

The Bills showed zero interest in defending the kickoff play so Tyler Bass simply boomed the ball through the hot air all night and produced six touchbacks. So that was fine, as was Bass making four extra points and a 43-yard field goal, but in the fourth quarter he duck-hooked one from 45 yards. In a close game, that’s a distance he has to be reliable in, so that wasn’t great.

Sam Martin had a nice night with a tremendous net average of 49.7 yards on three punts as he placed two inside the 20 and had a 65-yarder that just crawled into the end zone. There were no punt return chances for Brandon Codrington, and Ray Davis returned the only kickoff that was put in play by either team, going 25 yards.

COACHING: A

McDermott just continues to baffle the Dolphins with his defensive game plans, and just like last week, he had to adjust on the fly as he lost a key player early in the game when Bernard went down. Tagovailoa looked overmatched by what he was seeing and it led to a horrific three-pick night.

McDermott’s ability to coach up defensive backs is highly impressive and the fact that it was Ingram, the former UB standout, stepping up with two of the biggest plays of the night was quite a testament to the coaching he has received.

On offense, Joe Brady leaned into the running game, though some of that had to do with the score. It was a weird night because the the Bills scored 14 points with just one play on offense being run, Cook’s 49-yard TD run, because Ingram scored on his pick-six. The Bills had just 45 plays compared to 75 for Miami.

Brady had a good feel for what the Dolphins were doing, but I didn’t like a few of the run calls he came up with which put the Bills in unfavorable down-and-distance and it led to a 3-for-9 performance on third down.

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills report card: Buffalo rides James Cook and defense to bully Miami