Staff writer Omar Kelly gives out his grades for the final Dolphins’ game of the season.

DAVIE — A season that was overflowing with disappointment ended in an ugly fashion for the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.

Adam Gase’s 6-10 team got swept by the Buffalo Bills, who sneaked into the playoffs courtesy of the 22-16 win over Miami, and a late-game collapse from Baltimore.

The most troubling part about Miami’s loss to Buffalo was that the team’s undisciplined ways were on full display, when receiver Jarvis Landry and running back Kenyan Drake got ejected after a fourthquarter brawl with the Bills.

Here is the South Florida Sun Sentinel's report card, evaluating how the Dolphins performed in their season finale against the Bills:

Passing Game: D

Quarterback Jay Cutler played one series, and his final pass, a near interception on a ball that shouldn’t have been thrown, was a parallel for his Dolphins tenure — good in theory, but ill-advised. David Fales replaced Cutler and threw a touchdown pass to Landry, and ran for another. Fales completed 29-of-42 passes for 265 yards, producing a 83.9 passer rating.

Running Game: C-

Drake gained 75 rushing yards on 14 carries before being ejected for throwing a Buffalo player’s helmet down the field. It’s possible that the former Alabama standout could have contributed more than the 90 total yards he recorded against Buffalo if he hadn’t lost his composure and gotten kicked out. Miami finished Sunday’s contest with 93 rushing yards on 22 carries, and Fales’ 1-yard touchdown run brought the season’s total for rushing touchdowns to four.

Defending the pass: D

Buffalo quarterback Tyrod Taylor had another solid game against Miami, completing 19-of-27 passes for 204 yards and one touchdown, which produced a 104.6 passer rating. But Miami did have four sacks against Buffalo. As usual, the Dolphins struggled defending tight ends considering Charles Clay and Nick O’Leary collectively caught seven passes for 90 yards and a touchdown. With Sunday’s poor performance, Miami finishes the season allowing the fifth highest passer rating (94.8) for opposing quarterbacks.

Defending the run: D+

Buffalo was the ninth team this season to rush for more than 100 yards, gaining 126 rushing yards on 32 carries even though LeSean McCoy, who gained 10 yards on 11 carries, left the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury. Marcus Murphy took over for McCoy and gained 41 yards on seven carries. But the Dolphins held Buffalo to 3.9 yards per carry, which is below their season average of 4.1 yards allowed per attempt.

Special teams: B

Cody Parkey tied the Dolphins record for best field-goal percentage in a season, finishing 2017 making 21-of-23 (91.3 percent), which tied Jay Feely’s mark set in 2007. The Dolphins set a record for recovering four onside kicks this season, and the final one came in the closing minutes of Sunday’s game. Rookie punter Matt Haack had one of his better performances of the season against the Bills, averaging 43 net yards on his four punts.

Coaching: F

The Dolphins showed a lack of discipline yet again, committing 14 penalties for a season-high 145 yards. And what’s worse is the that Miami’s top-two offensive players — Landry and Drake — got ejected in the fourth quarter with the game on the line and Miami rallying. Gase allowed Cutler to remove himself from the game after one series, which makes you wonder if the Dolphins were even trying to win the game to begin with.

Stock up: Wake

Cameron Wake continues to defy logic. The 35-year-old pass rusher produced a sack and a half against the Bills and is now the 12th player in NFL history (since sacks became official in 1982) to have a doubledigit-sack season at age 35 or older, and the fourth in the past 15 years (John Abraham, Julius Peppers and Terrell Suggs). At this pace Wake, who contributed 35 tackles and 10.5 sacks this season, could play a few more years as a situational pass rusher.

Stock down: Gase

A year after leading the Dolphins to a 10-6 record and the franchise’s first playoff berth since the 2008 season Adam Gase is a .500 coach courtesy of Miami’s 6-10 record in 2017. Just about everything Gase advocated for last offseason didn’t work, and the offense’s struggles raise the question of whether he should give up play-calling.

Omar Kelly