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Dolphins Fall to Kansas City: The Five Biggest Plays

Breaking down the five plays that most helped decide the outcome in the Dolphins' 33-27 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs
Alain Poupart|
Dolphins Fall to Kansas City: The Five Biggest Plays
Dolphins Fall to Kansas City: The Five Biggest Plays

The Miami Dolphins saw their record on the season fall to 8-5 with a 33-27 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, and we break down the five biggest plays of the game.

1. The punt return

There are obviously a bunch of offensive plays from the Chiefs that could merit the top spot here, but those were almost unavoidable given the talent of that group. But the 67-yard punt return for a touchdown by Mecole Hardman after a Chiefs touchdown and a Dolphins three-and-out was tough to swallow. Ironically, perhaps the key block on the play was thrown by Chris Lammons, who was with the Dolphins last season and was elevated from the Chiefs practice squad for his game.

2. The TD pass to Tyreek Hill

This happened right after Bobby McCain had to temporarily leave the game with an ankle injury and special teams captain Clayton Fejedelem went in to replace him. Fejedelem isn't as fast as McCain and he committed the cardinal sin of leaning forward while Hill was sprinting downfield. That gave him no chance to keep up once he turned to retreat and made it a very easy score for the Chiefs, increasing their lead to 21-10.

3. The fourth-down completion

It was remarkable that the Dolphins had a chance to pull out the victory after being down 30-10, but there they were down 30-24 when the Chiefs gambled on fourth-and-1 from the Miami 40 with under three minutes remaining. The most disappointing part of the play was how easy it was for Patrick Mahomes to connect with Hill for the first down after Xavien Howard was slow to react after lining up at the line opposite Hill. That Hill was able to turn upfield for a 22-yard gain only made the play more painful.

4. The first offensive play of the second half

The Dolphins came out after halftime down only 14-10, but the tone for a bad third quarter was set when Clyde Edwards-Helaire broke several tackles on the first play after the touchback to turn what should have been a really short gain into a 26-yard pick-up.

5. The sack at the end of the first half

This might not seem significant in the big picture of this game, but the Dolphins were in prime position to get some momentum right before the half when they moved to a second-and-1 at midfield with 27 seconds left. Given Jason Sanders' strong leg, maybe all they needed was one completion to get into field goal range, but instead Tua Tagovailoa was sacked by Frank Clark after he got around rookie left tackle Austin Jackson very quickly. With no timeouts, the Dolphins then wisely decided to let the clock run out. That was an opportunity missed against the wrong opponent.

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Alain Poupart
ALAIN POUPART

Alain Poupart is the publisher/editor of Miami Dolphins On SI and host of the All Dolphins Podcast. Alain has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989 for various publications and media outlets, including Dolphin Digest, The Associated Press and the Dolphins team website. In addition to being a credentialed member of the Miami Dolphins press corps, Alain has covered three Super Bowls (for NFL.com, Football News and the Montreal Gazette), the annual NFL draft, the Senior Bowl, and the NFL Scouting Combine. During his almost 40 years in journalism, which began at the now-defunct Miami News, Alain has covered practically every sport at one time or another, from tennis to golf, baseball, basketball and everything in between. The career also included time as a copy editor, including work on several books, such as "Still Perfect," an inside look at the Miami Dolphins' 1972 perfect season. A native of Montreal, Canada, whose first language is French, Alain grew up a huge hockey fan but soon developed a love for all sports, including NFL football. He has lived in South Florida since the 1980s.

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