Dolphins-Chiefs Week 3 Halftime Observations

What stood out in the first half of the Miami Dolphins' Week 3 home opener against the Kansas City Chiefs at Hard Rock Stadium.

We'll start with the list of inactives, which was highlighted by a trio of injured players — wide receiver Caleb Douglas, edge defender Robert Beal Jr., and running back Jaylen Wright.

After decisive losses against the Las Vegas Raiders and San Francisco 49ers, the Dolphins gave the Chiefs quite a battle in the first half.

WHAT STOOD OUT

-- While the Dolphins' surprisingly competitive performance was signficant, the biggest development of the first half was the knee injury that sent De'Von Achane to the locker room. In the short term, it left Miami with only Ollie Gordon II in the running back room for this game, but we don't need to tell Dolphins fans the greater significance if the injury proves serious.

-- The injury occurred at the end of an 11-yard run and part of an absolutely brilliant first drive by the Dolphins.

-- There are few words to describe how impressive it was for the Dolphins to eat up more than minutes of clock time on their opening touchdown drive having to overcome the loss of Achane plus two more penalties in opponent territory, and a bad drop on a perfect pass from Malik Willis over the middle. Oh, and Ollie Gordon II making the bad decision of taking out the kickoff from the end zone, only to have Ryan Miller get flagged for holding to make Miami start its opening possession at its 9-yard line.

-- Of course, it would be even better if those penalties — in this case, a hold against Will Kacmarek and an ineligible downfield call against Austin Jackson — would stop occurring in the first place.

-- Speaking of bad penalties, the Dolphins not only had their first sack of the season but a third-down stop to force a field goal attempt if not for Michael Taaffe's very weird illegal contact penalty. As the replays showed, he not only slowed down Travis Kelce over the middle, he kept his arms wrapped around the tight end for a few seconds, Like, why?

-- Props to Jeff Hafley for going for the first down on a fourth-and-4 from the Chiefs 49 down 14-7 — even if it didn't work. And he was rewarded by the defense making its first first-half stop of the season with back-to-back stuffs of Kenneth Walker for no gain on third and fourth down.

-- And Hafley was even more right to do it again on a later fourth-and-5 from the KC 37 instead of attempting a 55-yard field goal attempt, and this is where Riley Patterson having two missed attempts so far this season comes into play.

-- And that came into play as well late in the first half when Hafley turned down a 58-yard attempt to instead punt and pin KC deep because a miss woudl have meant the Chiefs getting the ball at their 48. Again agree with that call.

-- Good job by Michael Taaffe for standing up Walker on the third-down play, though it also was made possible by Zach Sieler forcing Walker to jump cut by sealing the hole for which he was headed. And that was before Sieler fought off a possible hold to bring down with one arm Noah Gray.

-- Great to see rookie Chris Bell having a big first half, highlighted by his 44-yard catch-and-run across the middle.

-- And speaking of rookie highlights, that Jacob Rodriguez interception when he dove from the side to catch a carom after the ball bounced off intended receiver Rashee Rice and off the shoulder of Dante Trader Jr. was something else. And loved even more watching him get up and run after the pick.

-- All in all, it was inspiring work for the overmatched Dolphins.

Add us as a preferred source on Google