Miami Dolphins punter Thomas Morstead (4) sees the ball go backwards after attempting a punt during the second half of Sunday's game in Miami. The play resulted in a safety. (AP photo)

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Thomas Morstead stepped into the middle of Miami’s end zone, swung his powerful right leg and booted a punt.

Right into the backside of blocker Trent Sherfield.

Nearly the butt of a bad joke ending, the Dolphins held on for the last laugh against the reigning AFC East champions instead.

Miami overcame what was quickly dubbed the “butt punt” by shutting down Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills twice in the final minutes, improving to 3-0 with a 21-19 victory that ended with Allen desperately trying to spike the football on the edge of field goal range.

“I don’t like these shock endings,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “But I’m just really, really happy for the team because this much I do know: Teams win football games, and if you are going to have success over the long haul, you have to have confidence that whatever phase can win a football game for you, can go ahead and do that.”

Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa briefly left the game in the second quarter, returning after halftime despite appearing to be disoriented by a head injury — the team clarified later that actually, he had an issue with his back. He finished with 186 yards and a touchdown pass to River Cracraft.

Allen was also scraped up, getting X-rays on his right hand after the game after banging it on a helmet or facemask. He insisted he was fine after.

The Dolphins’ defense did just enough to stall Allen twice in the fourth quarter, the first effort a goal-line stand that followed a go-ahead rushing touchdown by Miami’s Chase Edmonds.

Allen threw incomplete on fourth down from the 2-yard line, ending a 17-play, eight-minute drive — and seemingly Buffalo’s chances for a comeback win.

But then Tagovailoa and the Dolphins went three-and-out, leaving Morstead with little room to kick the ball away.

It wasn’t enough space. The kick clanked right off Sherfield and went out the rear of the end zone for a safety — a mishap drawing immediate comparisons to Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez’s infamous “butt fumble” from 10 years earlier. Sanchez ran into the bottom of lineman Brandon Moore, jarring the ball loose.

“Woah… stay out of my lane bro,” Sanchez tweeted at Morstead.

Allen had about a minute to guide Buffalo into field goal range, and did so, but the Bills ran out of time. Isaiah McKenzie tried for extra yards on a completion from Allen, costing precious seconds. Dolphins players started celebrating when the clock hit zero with Allen just stepping under center.

Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey slammed his headset and began throwing paper and notebooks in the coaches’ box when time ran out.

“It was only fourteen or twelve seconds,” said Dolphins linebacker Melvin Ingram, who had a fumble recovery in the first half. “You run around, throw the ball. He runs all the way around, that clock is going to down.”

Miami took the lead with about 10 minutes left in the game, scoring a touchdown to go up 21-17. It was the Bills’ first deficit of the season.

Buffalo ran 90 plays compared to 39 for Miami, outgaining the Dolphins 497 yards to 212.

BENGALS 27, JETS 12

It took just one week for all those positive vibes to turn into frustration — again — for the New York Jets.

The offense struggled, the defense couldn’t make crucial stops and veteran players made key mistakes in a 27-12 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.

“It just wasn’t clicking,” coach Robert Saleh said.

This dud came after a stunning 31-30 victory at Cleveland last Sunday when Joe Flacco rallied New York from a 13-point deficit with 1:55 remaining. That had many fans wondering if — even with starting quarterback Zach Wilson out and likely back next week — the Jets are a different team than the sorry squads that had so many awful Sundays the past few years.

And they still might be. But not on this day.

The Jets were gouged early by Joe Burrow and the defending AFC champions and couldn’t recover. Four turnovers — Flacco lost two fumbles and was intercepted twice — didn’t help.

The defense shared much of the blame for the loss, and it knew it was in for a long day when Burrow led an 11-play opening drive during which he was 8 of 10 for 95 yards and a touchdown.

At the beginning of the second quarter, defensive lineman Quinnen Williams and defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton got into a sideline shouting match. Following Burrow’s 56-yard TD to Tyler Boyd, Williams urged the coaches to switch to a four-man rush instead of seven.