The Kansas City Chiefs didn't play consistently well, but they did enough to put away the Miami Dolphins.
The Kansas City Chiefs played down to the level of their competition for most of their meeting with the Miami Dolphins, but a pair of touchdown strikes from quarterback Patrick Mahomes to tight end Travis Kelce and some timely defense gave the Chiefs a 24-10 win and go 3-0 for the young season.
The Chiefs were hardly dominant in this one, as the scrappy Dolphins gave them some interesting problems, starting when the two teams traded touchdowns in the first quarter.
Both scores coming as a result of significant drives. The Chiefs struck first after the opening kickoff, with the big play being a 48-yard pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes to tight end Travis Kelce. Running back Kenneth Walker III finished off the 4-play, 67-yard effort with a 10-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0.
Miami struck back, though, with a 91-yard drive that mixed runs and short passes, with running back Ollie Gordon II stepping in for an injured De'Von Achane and taking it in from three yards out. Kansas City came back with a more controlled effort that covered 65 yards in 10 plays, with a 5-yard throw from Mahomes to Walker putting the Chiefs up 14-7.
The score stayed that way through the rest of the second quarter, with both teams getting opportunities they couldn’t finish off. The Chiefs got stoned on fourth down twice in the half as Walker was stuffed on bread-and-butter running plays, while the mistake-prone Dolphins were able to move the ball but couldn’t put points on the board.
Miami did take the second half kick off and move the ball once again, though, with the result being a 37-yard field goal from kicker Riley Patterson as the drive stalled on the edge of the red zone. That made it 14-10, with the score holding through the third quarter as both teams struggled to generate consistent offense.
The Dolphins had opportunities galore throughout the game, but the Chiefs padded their lead with a drive that was keyed by a 23-yard completion to tight end Noah Gray. But Kansas City couldn’t finish, and the result was a 34-yard field goal from kicker Harrison Butker to make it 17-10 to provide some separation.
The key sequence in the game happened midway through the fourth quarter, as the Dolphins came up short on fourth down near midfield with six minutes still left in the game. The Chiefs quickly capitalized with their final drive that featured a 34-yard pass to receiver Rashee Rice, and Mahomes found Kelce again with an 11-yard TD pass to make it 24-10 and put the game away.
Mahomes wound up 20-for-24 for 246 yards and two touchdowns to go with an interception, but don't be fooled by the numbers. The Chiefs won’t like a lot of what they see on the tape as they couldn't duplicate the kind of crisp, clean football they played against the Denver Broncos in Week 1, and a couple of key plays from Miami could have made this a very different game.
