MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Put simply, the Miami Dolphins were due.

They had been on a disastrous stretch against the Buffalo Bills, with one touchdown in a span of 33 possessions overlapping four games — three of which they lost, the fourth one looking like it would have the same outcome.

“I wasn’t aware of that statistic,” Miami coach Joe Philbin said. “Certainly didn’t pass it along to the team.”

Then came a breakthrough, and just like that the Dolphins’ playoff chances look a whole lot more realistic.

Ryan Tannehill threw touchdown passes on back-to-back drives in a five minute span in the second half, Miami’s defense held Buffalo without a touchdown and the Dolphins beat the Bills 22-9 on Thursday night.

“The team felt, the offense especially, felt confident in what we were doing,” Tannehill said. “We were able to move the ball, do exactly what we wanted to do. ... I think we did that in the second half, played more clean.”

The Dolphins (6-4) moved into sole possession of second place in the AFC East, 1 1/2 games behind New England — a team Miami beat in Week 1.

Tannehill completed 26 of 34 passes for 240 yards and the two scores to Brandon Gibson and Jarvis Landry. Lamar Miller rushed for 86 yards on 15 carries for Miami and the Dolphins’ defense held Buffalo to 86 yards on 30 plays after halftime.

Dan Carpenter kicked three field goals against his former team, accounting for all of Buffalo’s scoring. The Bills (5-5) had beaten the Dolphins in each of the teams’ last three meetings, but left the game looking up at 10 other teams in the AFC standings.

“We’ve got to score,” Bills coach Doug Marrone said. “This was a team loss. There’s no doubt about that when you look at all the things that happened out there tonight. ... We lost this game as a team.”

Carpenter has 15 field goals against the Dolphins in the past two seasons, the most anyone has ever made against Miami in that span. He was 7 for 7 last year against his former club.