What stood out in the first half of Thursday night’s game between the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills?

We start with the inactive list, highlighted by running back Raheem Mostert being out with a pectoral injury. The good news for the offense was that running back De’Von Achane, who was listed as questionable on the last injury report with an ankle injury, was active.

With Mostert out, rookie and fourth-round pick Jaylen Wright was active and about to make his NFL debut.

Besides Mostert, the other inactives 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 Wednesday because of the quad 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 it off to fullback Alec Ingold on third-and-1. He gained 3 yards up the middle, allowing the Dolphins to make 4 of 4 run conversions on third-and-1 after going 5 of 11 last season.

Also worth mentioning is Aaron Brewer’s great clearing block that paved the way for Achane’s 5-yard run.

Things quickly went downhill after that, however, after Tyreek Hill took himself out of the game after an incomplete pass on a deep shot, while cornerback Christian Benford immediately backed away and was in an excellent position the whole time.

On third-and-13, Tua threw rookie Grant DuBose down the field, but didn’t turn around quickly enough and the ball bounced off his shoulder and landed right in the hands of Buffalo DB Ja’Marcus Ingram. This is one of those cases where the decision appears on Tua’s stat sheet, but wasn’t actually his.

Buffalo capitalized on a 37-yard touchdown drive that gave the Bills a 7-0 lead when they went all out aggressively on fourth-and-3 from the Miami 17-yard line. On the touchdown, linebacker David Long, Jr. got caught in a jam that left James Cook completely free after running out on the left side.

The Dolphins actually had a few nice plays in this defensive series, starting with Jaelan Phillips missing 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 back with an impressive 70-yard touchdown run – after another touchback on the supposedly new “dynamic” kickoff return. The key plays of the drive were a couple of unscheduled passes from Tua, one to Jonnu Smith for 15 yards and the other 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 pass as the Dolphins ended up with Achane and Ingold on the right side with only a Buffalo defense in the area.

Buffalo’s next drive ended in a three-and-out when Josh Allen dropped the shotgun snap on third-and-1 and Calais Campbell deflected his pass after picking up the loose ball and running to his right. We should probably get used to Campbell deflecting passes.

The Dolphins continued to use their speed laterally on their next attack. Tyreek Hill took a pitch in the backfield, quickly turned the corner and gained 12 yards.

However, on the next play, Tagovailoa threw his second interception while attempting to hit Robbie Chosen on a mid-range pass. This may have been due to the quarterback and receiver not being on the same page, but either way, it gave Buffalo the ball at the Miami 44-yard line.

After the Dolphins decided to go for a three-and-5 sprint and allowed a third-and-5 conversion, and Allen hit Khalil Shakir after spending a lot of time in the pocket, the defense stiffened and kept Buffalo from a field goal.

Jalen Ramsey continues to be great in run support and breaks up a James Cook run where Cook does a great job of gaining just 3 yards.

Jordyn Brooks showed great coverage skills as he went step-for-step with him on the sideline, forcing an incomplete pass.

On their next drive, the Dolphins held on to three attempts, largely because Jaylen Wright was penalized for holding on a second-down run after gaining three yards on his first NFL run.

The next defensive series was not good, starting with Jordan Poyer receiving a penalty for unnecessary roughness at the end of a 21-yard pass.

The run defense showed some weaknesses when freshman Ray Davis ran for 8 and 10 yards on two consecutive plays.

The killer of the drive came on third-and-12 from the Miami 34-yard line, when Allen gained time by scrambling in the pocket and found third-down back Ty Johnson near the goal line after shaking off Jalen Ramsey — and at this point, we point out 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 week in a row.

The Dolphins’ next drive started well, with Achane going 17 yards through a big hole in the middle and gaining 9 yards on the next two plays.

But things went downhill from there: Ingold was stopped on third-and-1 for a 1-yard run, the Dolphins’ first failure on a third-and-short run this season.

On fourth-and-2 at Buffalo’s 45-yard line, Mike McDaniel made the right decision and tried, but the play had no chance because Ed Oliver almost immediately outran left guard Robert Jones and pounced on Tua to end the drive with a sack.

Yes, things got even 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 that made it 24-7. David Long Jr., who had been playing really well earlier, ran into a three-man block for some reason, and then Jordan Poyer took a bad angle that allowed Cook to easily get by him.

The Dolphins’ final drive of the first half was pretty odd. There were just a few short passes and a whole bunch of Achane runs, coupled with a lack of urgency at the timeout. It was odd.

The Dolphins had to call their final timeout with the ball at Buffalo’s 23-yard line with 16 seconds left. The Dolphins did score a field goal to cap the drive, but that was little consolation as they went into halftime trailing 24-10.