Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘Some fans are never going to forget that Sean McDermott (and we imagine then general manager Doug Whaley) traded out of the No. 10 overall spot in the first round of the 2017 draft rather than pick quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes or DeShaun Watson.’

‘That drive showed the promise that Allen possesses in that right arm of his. After four runs and a short completion to Brown moved the Bills away from their own goal line, Allen went to work, completing three straight passes as the third quarter came to a close.’

‘Make no mistake, the Dolphins are one of the worst NFL teams anyone has ever seen, but for nearly three quarters, they were outplaying the Bills up and down the sun-drenched turf.’

‘The Dolphins made it quite clear that this wasn’t gonna be a walk in the park, and it certainly wasn’t. And for much of this glorious autumn day, a sun-bathing sellout crowd feared the absolute worst: That these winless Dolphins, who are redefining what professional football ineptitude looks like, were going to throw some serious shade on Buffalo’s alleged entrance into the upper tier of the NFL’s hierarchy.’

‘“I knew what play was coming and I was fortunate enough to get off the ball quickly,’’ he said. “We needed to make a play and I was just happy to do it. We finally got our juices going after that. The crowd really got into. It was a swing-the-momentum deal, you could tell the tide had turned.’’’

‘I didn’t like Brian Daboll’s play-calling in the first half. I thought he was getting too cute on some of the plays against a weak opponent, especially the first drive third-and-1 pass play that failed and led to a field goal. He put too much of the game in Allen’s hands rather than pound away his running backs against a Miami defense that had been allowing 169 yards per game.’

‘“They’ve got guys on that team that make an awful lot of money to play football,” said safety Micah Hyde. “You can’t sleep on anyone in this league. Doesn’t matter if it’s an 0-15 team. They’re going to be ready to play and we have to play accordingly.”’

‘“What I’ve noticed, it hasn’t been about my opponent as much as it has been about me and just executing,” he said. “The freer I play, the better I play no matter who the guy is. The more comfortable I get, the better I’ve played.”’

‘Earlier this week, Buffalo coach Sean McDermott channeled his inner Bill Belichick and heaped praise on the Dolphins as “a very good team.’’ They’re not.’

‘He played only 16.2 percent of the offensive snaps in the first three games and was targeted just three times by quarterback Josh Allen, catching none of them. And then he sat out the last two games because of a groin injury that he said is now fully healed. “I’m better, 100 percent,” Foster said the other day.’

‘“Offensively, we need more production,” Flores told reporters. “We got that out of Ryan the other day for a quarter. And we felt this game and this week, that was the best chance for us to be productive against a tough team, a tough defense, a tough crowd and a tough environment.”’

‘“That’s every week in this league,” linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said in reference to the fact that nothing is ever quite as it seems on any given Sunday. “We don’t pay attention to the point spread, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, if you don’t come in there with the mindset that you want to go out there and dominate, whether their record is 5-0 or 0-5, you could potentially lose that game.”’

‘Edmunds is settling into his role as the quarterback of the defense and it looks like the game is slowing down for him a little more each week. He’s been strong against the run, but his ability to take away space in zone pass coverage is also shining through.’

‘Jones set the all-time college football record for career receptions while at East Carolina and he was expected to become a solid No. 2 type wideout in Buffalo’s offense, but his career began slowly in 2017 and he caught only 27 passes for 316 yards.’

‘Five games into the season, four of which have been victories, it’s clear this is a more talented offensive team than the woeful bunch that we saw last season. But when you still rank 18th in points per game, you’ve turned the ball over 11 times, and are converting only 33.9 percent of the time on third down, there are still improvements to be made.’