Scouting the Dolphins: Zero Excuses for Chiefs to Not Win in Week 3

The Kansas City Chiefs are off to a roaring start this season, but everyone knows that it's an "any given Sunday" league. Could that come into play this weekend against the Miami Dolphins? Well, for the Chiefs' sake, they'll plan against it.

Simply put, there just aren't many reasons for Week 3 to be a trap game for head coach Andy Reid's team. Although the offense has fired on almost all cylinders and the defense has flashed some bright moments, KC is far from out of the woods. It's too early in the 2026-27 campaign to take your foot off the gas pedal, making this intraconference bout almost as important in the win-loss column as many others.

It sometimes merely comes down to one roster being lightyears ahead of another. Tucker Franklin and Matt Verderame discussed that and more on a September episode of the That Football Show podcast on KC Sports Network.

Miami's pass rush is lackluster at best

As expected, this is a team that's devoid of talent at multiple levels. That certainly applies to the defensive front of coordinator Sean Duggan, as his group is the only one in the league without a sack heading into Week 3. Miami has struggled immensely to get after the opposing quarterback, yet it did face two well-performing offensive lines in the Las Vegas Raiders and San Francisco 49ers.

Even with left tackle Josh Simmons still missing in action, the Chiefs' starting five should be able to handle this unit. Third-year man Chop Robinson and former Kansas City pass rusher Joshua Uche don't make for a scary edge duo. According to TruMedia, the Dolphins' team pressure rate is 28th in the sport, and that's while bringing five rushers at the sixth-highest clip (28.6%) overall.

The Dolphins' secondary leaves a ton to be desired

Similarly, the Miami secondary could use a ton of work in order to become a formidable collective. Rookie Chris Johnson is an intriguing piece, only to be immediately offset by the starting boundary duo of Jason Marshall Jr. and JuJu Brents. Elsewhere, former Chiefs special teamer Zayne Anderson has received 66 defensive snaps — 55% of those available.

As a result, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to hear that (per RBSDM) the Dolphins allow the second-highest dropback EPA per play mark in the sport at 0.432. Additionally, Miami's 57.6% dropback success rate ceded trails just the Dallas Cowboys for the worst out of 32 teams. Part of that is due to a lacking pass rush, sure, but the back end of this defense is flat-out bad. That might be putting it kindly.

Brents being a limited participant in late-week practices doesn't help matters one bit.

It doesn't get much more lopsided than Malik Willis vs. Patrick Mahomes

Stars oftentimes make NFL games, and the visitors have a clear-cut advantage in that regard at quarterback. Patrick Mahomes has extinguished any doubts surrounding his health and durability to this point, also coming off an MVP-level performance in Week 2. He now returns to Hard Rock Stadium, where he won Super Bowl LIV, and doesn't face a ton of direct competition given the signal-caller on the opposing sideline.

It's important to note that Dolphins field general Malik Willis doesn't have the best environment for success in Miami. Running back Devon Achane might be the only clear plus player at the three skill positions. Willis himself has been nothing to write home about, though, taking nine sacks in two weeks while completing only 58% of his passes. That's accompanied by a 35.6% success rate and a No. 24 ranking for dropback EPA/play (0.020).

There are too many edges for Kansas City to not come away with a win in this one. If Reid's crew comes up short, it'll only have itself to blame.

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