Chiefs' defense dominates Dolphins vaunted offense
Tyler Brown
The Chiefs got off to a hot start Sunday morning against the Dolphins in Frankfurt, Germany’s first-ever NFL game. With just seconds left in the first half, Kansas City was up 14-0 when former Kansas City wide receiver Tyreek Hill had a ball stripped by cornerback Trent McDuffie, which led to a 21-0 lead heading into the half.
Safety Mike Edwards recovered that fumble and as he was being tackled on the return, he lateraled it to fellow safety Bryan Cook who took it to the house for 59 yards. The Chiefs would never score again, but they did not have to. The defense put together a stellar performance against the league's best offense, as the Kansas City Chiefs (7-2) outlasted the Miami Dolphins (6-3) 21-14.
“Defensively, what a first half, head coach Andy Reid said. “What a second half. The fourth quarter was really something, which made a very exciting (game). The [cornerback Trent] McDuffie strip of [wide receiver] Tyreek [Hill], punching the ball out, [safety Mike] Edwards picking it up, [safety Bryan] Cook scoring. Doesn’t get any better than that. [Cornerback L’Jarius] Sneed’s ability to match up most of the day on Tyreek was big, although Tyreek is a heck of a football player.”
Kansas City’s offense did not struggle as much as last week, but it was not clicking on all cylinders either. What they did do, however, was put together two nearly flawless drives that ended in touchdowns, not field goals.
The first touchdown drive was the opening drive, as Miami won the coin toss and elected to defer. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes went five for six for 71 yards and a touchdown to rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice.
Even though the game featured two of the league’s top five offenses, the next score did not come until seven punts later between the two teams. Mahomes found five different receivers on that drive, none of which were Travis Kelce. It was third-down back Jerick McKinnon who found plenty of daylight after Mahomes found him on a screen pass. McKinnon took Mahomes’ second and last touchdown of the day 17 yards to go up 14-0.
“Offensively we did some great things, and then we sputtered at times,” Reid said. “But I would tell you that first drive was a thing of beauty. We’re sitting there 6-2 with the Dolphins coming into this, knowing that they’re one of the better teams in the AFC. So I love the energy, where our guys rebounded from that last game because all those things are so important to making up a good football team. Our guys did that. Last week we were off. This one here, they weren’t going there. You could just feel it.”
The offense did little outside of those two drives, but the defense dominated all morning long. Not only did they put seven points up on the board, but they also limited Tua Tagovailoa to less than 200 yards passing and Tyreek Hill to just 62 yards. Tagovailoa had been averaging over 302 yards per game and Hill had already tallied over 1,000 yards through just eight games.
The Dolphins came into the game with the most passing yards and the most rushing yards gained in the NFL. The Chiefs' defense pitched a shutout against them through the first 40 minutes of the game until Tagovailoa finally connected on a long touchdown pass to Cedrick Wilson Jr. for 31 yards.
The Chiefs offense only turned it over one time against the Dolphins, but it was that one time that allowed Miami back into the game. Following their first touchdown, the Dolphins strip-sacked Mahomes just five plays later, immediately putting Miami back in scoring position.
Defensive tackle Chris Jones shot the team in the foot again just a few plays later when the Chiefs held the Dolphins on third down. Kansas City was going to have Miami on a fourth and 10, looking to make the score 21-10. After the play was over, Jones inexcusably shoved a Dolphins offensive lineman down to the ground to give Miami an automatic first down. They scored on the next play on a 13-yard rush by running back Raheem Mostert to make it 21-14.
After pulling it into a one-score game, the two teams exchanged a few more punts before the Dolphins had a chance to drive down the field with just over two minutes to go in the game. Mostert rushed for 44 yards on the first two plays of the drive.
The Kansas City defense put the clamps back on after that, though, forcing three straight incompletions. On fourth and 10 Chiefs Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo sent an all-out blitz.
The combination of Tagovailoa getting spooked and a less-than-perfect snap resulted in the quarterback fumbling the snap and falling on it for a turnover on downs. That sequence sealed the game as Mahomes and company finished the morning in victory formation.
Miami limited Mahomes as well, to the tune of just 185 yards passing to go along with his two touchdowns. Mahomes completed passes to nine different receivers but none of the pass catchers eclipsed 34 yards. Tight end Noah Gray led the team, catching three passes for 34 yards.
What stood out was that nobody had any noticeably bad drops, and the offense did take a step forward from last week. The running game was nothing to brag about, but the offense had much more balance in week nine. Pacheco received 16 carries and gained 66 yards on the day. Mahomes is happy that the team is able to stack wins while working through their struggles.
“I think all you can do is keep working,” Mahomes said. “That’s everything. It’s me with timing. It’s them just continuing to get catches as much as possible. Lucky for us, our defense is playing so good, so we are sitting here 7-2 going into the bye. We can get better as an offense. I think if the offense can get where it needs to be, I think we’ll be a hard team to beat.”
The Dolphins offense also came in averaging over 151 yards rushing per game and over 33 points per game. The Chiefs held them to 117 yards rushing and seven of the 14 points they allowed were on a short field.
Spagnuolo had a game plan of picking and choosing when to blitz, and most of the time he chose correctly. Tagovailoa is known for getting the ball out fast, so the Chiefs could not deploy too much manufactured pressure, but they did utilize slot corner blitzes on multiple occasions. At least two of the three sacks were because of the pressure from the secondary.
Cornerback Jaylen Watson, linebacker Leo Chenal and defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton all tallied one sack. McDuffie led the team in tackles with 10 as Miami utilized Tyreek Hill on a lot of short passes in hopes of getting some yards after the catch. Hill only averaged 7.8 yards per catch. L’Jarius Sneed followed Hill for a lot of the day as well. Reid understandably did not see a defensive battle coming in a game that featured two high-powered offenses.
“I’m not going to slight our defense,” Reid said. “But I wouldn’t have guessed that. Typically two good offenses, that being the No. 1 offense, the Dolphins, in the National Football League right now. For the things that our defense did right there, that was a tremendous achievement. Obviously, we got to keep it going. You’re just as good as the next game that you play in. That was a heck of an achievement. [Defensive coordinator] Steve [Spagnuolo] did a great job with scheming it. The players executed very well.”
There were no injuries to report, which is great news because the Kansas City Chiefs now get 15 days off, heading into the bye week while they await a Super Bowl 57 rematch with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles come into GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday Night Football, November 20th at 7:15 p.m. CDT.
