What stood out during the Miami Dolphins’ game against the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night:

Nothing we wrote before or after that horrible night was telling after what happened to QB Tua Tagovailoa. Now we turn our attention to his future status and the sad reality that the Dolphins were once again blown away by the Bills.

It was troubling on so many levels to see Tua remain on the field after that fourth-down scramble in the third quarter. First, I was concerned for Tagovailoa’s well-being, given his concussion issues from two years ago.

This was a bad night for injuries, even before that, as the Dolphins lost their two starting offensive linemen on the left side of the line, Robert Jones and Terron Armstead. It’s really troubling to see Armstead just continue to have bad luck with injuries and he’s also someone the Dolphins can’t afford to lose for very long.

In short, this is the kind of game that could ruin an entire season and test the Dolphins’ resolve.

We start with the inactive list, highlighted by running back Raheem Mostert, who sat out due to a chest injury. The good news for the offense was that running back De’Von Achane, who was on the roster the final injury report as questionable with an ankle injury, was active.

With Mostert out, fourth-round pick Jaylen Wright is still active and set to make his NFL debut.

Besides Mostert, the other inactive players were the same as in Week 1: CB Ethan Bonner, LB Channing Tindall, LB Mohamed Kamara, OL Andrew Meyer and WR Malik Washington. Like Mostert, Washington was ruled out on Wednesday, in his case with the quadriceps injury that also kept him out of the season opener.

The Dolphins got the ball first and immediately showed off their new approach on third-and-short this season, handing the ball to fullback Alec Ingold on third-and-1. He gained 3 yards up the middle, making the Dolphins 4-for-4 on third-and-1 run conversions after going 5-for-11 last season.

We also have to mention a great clearing block from Aaron Brewer, which cleared the way for a 5-yard run by Achane.

The drive quickly went downhill after that, however, when Tyreek Hill took himself out of the game on a bad pass on a long shot. Cornerback Christian Benford immediately ran back and was in good position the entire game.

On third-and-13, Tua went upfield for rookie Grant DuBose at the numbers, but he didn’t turn quickly enough and the ball bounced off his shoulder and straight into the hands of Buffalo DB Ja’Marcus Ingram. It’s one of those cases where the pick goes on Tua’s stat sheet but doesn’t actually go on him.

Buffalo scored a 37-yard touchdown drive to give the Bills a 7-0 lead as they aggressively pursued the ball on fourth-and-3 from Miami’s 17-yard line. On the touchdown, linebacker David Long Jr. got stuck in traffic, leaving James Cook wide open after he lunged on the left side.

The Dolphins had a few good plays in that defensive series, starting with Jaelan Phillips not biting on a naked bootleg and forcing an incomplete pass, followed by Zach Sieler botching a third-and-2 with Long joining him in the backfield.

The Dolphins came right back with an impressive 70-yard touchdown run — after, yes, another touchback on the supposed new “dynamic” kickoff return. The key plays of the drive were a pair of off-schedule passes from Tua, one to Jonnu Smith for 15 yards and another for 17 yards to Jaylen Waddle on third-and-4.

Achane looked good on that drive, carrying the ball four times (with runs of 14 and 8 yards) and capping it off with a 5-yard touchdown reception as the Dolphins found Achane and Ingold in the right flat with only one Buffalo defense in the box.

The next Buffalo drive ended in a three-and-out when Josh Allen dropped the shotgun snap on third-and-1 and Calais Campbell knocked down his pass after picking up the loose ball and scrambling to the right. We’ll probably have to get used to Campbell knocking down passes.

The Dolphins continued to use their speed laterally on their next drive, with Tyreek Hill picking up a ball in the backfield and easily rounding the corner for a gain of 12 yards.

On the next play, Tagovailoa threw his second interception while trying to hit Robbie Chosen with a mid-range pass. This may have been a case of QB and receiver not being on the same page, but at least it gave Buffalo the ball on Miami’s 44-yard line.

After the Dolphins gave up a third-and-5 conversion when they decided to score three points and Allen hit Khalil Shakir after he had all the time in the pocket, the defense stepped up and limited Buffalo to a field goal.

Jalen Ramsey continues to be great in support of the run, disrupting a run by James Cook. James Cook did a great job, gaining just 3 yards.

Jordyn Brooks showed he could provide great coverage as he continued to step with Jordyn Brooks down the sideline and forced an incomplete pass.

The Dolphins had three and-outs on their next drive, largely due to a holding penalty on a second-down run by Jaylen Wright after he gained 3 yards on his first NFL carry.

The next defensive series was not good, starting with Jordan Poyer being penalized for unnecessary roughness after a 21-yard pass.

The run defense showed some problems as rookie Ray Davis ran for 8 and 10 yards in consecutive games.

The deciding factor in the drive was third-and-12 from Miami’s 34-yard line, when Allen bought some time by running into the pocket and found third-down back Ty Johnson near the goal line after shaking off Jalen Ramsey. And here’s where we want to emphasize that you can’t ask a cornerback to cover someone for 10 seconds.

James Cook’s 1-yard touchdown run on the next play put the Dolphins behind 17-7 for the second straight week.

The Dolphins’ next drive started well when Achane was able to score 17 yards through a big hole up the middle and then gain 9 yards on the next two plays.

But then things went wrong: Ingold stopped the ball for 1 yard on third-and-1, the Dolphins’ first failure on a third-and-short run this season.

On fourth-and-2 from the Buffalo 45-yard line, Mike McDaniel made the right decision to go for it, but the play never had a chance as Ed Oliver almost immediately got past left guard Robert Jones and was on top of Tua for a drive-ending sack.

Boy, things got worse for the Dolphins on the next play when James Cook sprinted up the middle and then down the right sideline for a 49-yard touchdown to make it 24-7. David Long Jr., who had been playing very well up until that point, ran into a triple-team block for some reason and then Jordan Poyer took a bad angle, allowing Cook to pass easily.

The Dolphins’ final drive of the half was a bit odd in the way they operated, with only a few short passes and a bunch of Achane runs, combined with a lack of urgency in taking timeouts. It was weird.

The Dolphins were forced to take their final timeout with 16 seconds left and the ball on the Buffalo 23-yard line. The Dolphins did get a field goal to cap the drive, but it was small consolation as they went into halftime trailing 24-10.

The Dolphins got a much-needed stop on Buffalo’s first drive of the second half, albeit with an unnecessary 5 yards being given up when Anthony Walker Jr. was flagged for moving too early on a kickoff, the first of the night to enter the end zone. It was the second time this season that Walker has committed this infraction, and he needs to clean that up.

Chop Robinson and Zach Sieler pressured Josh Allen on third-and-7 from midfield, leading to an errant throw and an incomplete pass.

The Dolphins started the second half with Lester Cotton at left guard, while Robert Jones was sidelined with a shoulder injury and Terron Armstead was replaced at left tackle by Kendall Lamm shortly after.

The first four plays of the drive were played by Achane, who will comprise almost the entire Dolphins offense tonight.

And then disaster struck when the Bills collapsed the left side of the Dolphins offensive line (Lamm and Cotton) and Tua tried to throw the ball out of bounds but couldn’t get a good grip on it. Ja’Marcus Ingram easily intercepted the ball along the sideline and just as easily returned it 30 yards for a touchdown, making the score 31-10.

The Dolphins then mounted a good drive, highlighted by Tua’s 23-yard pass to Waddle. The drive was cut short, however, when Tagovailoa was forced off the field with a concussion that overshadowed everything else that would happen on this horrific night.

The drive ended when backup QB Skylar Thompson was sacked on fourth-and-goal from the 8-yard line as Von Miller easily passed Austin Jackson.

From the start of the fourth quarter it was garbage time, because the outcome was never in doubt.

Achane continued to apply pressure as the Dolphins continued to run a conservative game plan against a Buffalo defense that played very loose defense to ensure they wouldn’t get outscored like Jacksonville.

Achane ended up throwing for 165 yards and scoring the one touchdown, but the Bills were fine with the Dolphins letting him do that kind of damage.

Interesting to note that Hill and Waddle were both on the bench midway through the fourth quarter with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, a sign that Miami had already given up.

The score and Thompson’s presence in the game made the fourth quarter feel like a practice game.

It didn’t matter at all that the Dolphins couldn’t convert their score after ending up in the red zone on their final drive.

The game ended after Buffalo gained a first down and Tua was in the locker room with his family.

I need only a few words to describe how horrible this night was on every level.