Dolphins-Chiefs Week 14 Highlights and Lowlights

A look at the highlights and lowlights for the Miami Dolphins in the their 33-27 Week 14 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs at Hard Rock Stadium.

HIGHLIGHTS

FIRST HALF

-- Matt Haack's first punt was a thing of beauty, a 53-yarder high enough to force a fair catch.

-- Kudos to safety Brandon Jones for playing a Patrick Mahomes option run to perfection. In the open field, Jones had perfect position to prevent the pitch and then made the tackle on Mahomes.

-- Byron Jones got that long-awaited interception (first one since 2017) after Andrew Van Ginkel got knocked down, got up and batted up a screen pass intended for tight end Travis Kelce.

-- The Dolphins got an easy 16-yard gain on a pass from Tua Tagovailoa outside to tight end Adam Shaheen when pre-snap motion got the Chiefs defenders out of position.

-- The Chiefs' second drive began with a 9-yard loss when Patrick Mahomes failed to handle a shotgun and had to fall on the ball.

-- Linebacker Jerome Baker ended that drive with an incredible 30-yard sack — yes, 30-yard sack — after Emmanuel Ogbah got enough penetration to cut off Mahomes as he was trying to scramble to his right. After Mahomes reversed field, he tried to outrun Baker, but the linebacker tripped him up.

-- The Dolphins' touchdown drive in the first quarter was kept alive by a great throw-and-catch by Tagovailoa and tight end Mike Gesicki for a 14-yard gain.

-- The Dolphins got a first-and-goal when two Chiefs defenders converged on the outside receiver, allowing Jakeem Grant to slip inside and get wide open for a 19-yard gain.

-- Tagovailoa capped that drive by rolling out and allowing Gesicki plenty of time to find an open spot in the Chiefs zone for a 7-yard touchdown.

-- The Dolphins got a second pick IN THE FIRST QUARTER after Mahomes had thrown two interceptions the ENTIRE SEASON. This one came off another deflection off a slightly overthrown pass to Edwards-Helaire that safety Eric Rowe easily grabbed.

-- Tua quickly saw Lynn Bowden Jr. open in the flat on the left side for a 14-yard completion that converted a third-and-5 and let to a Jason Sanders field goal that made it 10-0.

-- Baker and Brandon Jones combined to drop Clyde Edwards-Helaire for no gain on a first-down run.

-- Baker got his second sack of the half when he did a great job of holding up Edwards-Helaire at the line of scrimmage and then disengaged to tackled Mahomes after he rolled to his left.

-- Tua began the final drive of the first half with a nifty 16-yard completion to Lynn Bowden Jr.

SECOND HALF

-- About the only bright spot of the third quarter came when Byron Jones produced a second takeaway for the defense, this one when he punched the ball out of Mecole Hardman's hand at the end of a long completion. Kamu Grugier-Hill recovered the loose ball, though it was inside the Miami 10-yard line.

-- Zach Sieler dropped Edwards-Helaire for a 1-yard loss on a running play in the third quarter.

-- Nik Needham had great underneath coverage on Tyreek Hill on a deep pass with help from Xavien Howard deep when they combined to force an incompletion on third down.

-- Tagovailoa had back-to-back completions of 11 yards to Bowden.

-- The Dolphins appeared in danger of watching their 30-10 deficit get larger early in the fourth quarter until Xavien Howard pulled out yet another marvelous play. He was matched up against Tyreek Hill in one-on-one coverage when he did what he does best — pick up the ball early and become the receiver. Then he used his athletic ability to leap and make a spectacular one-handed grab right front of Hill.

-- Mack Hollins made a great adjustment on an underthrown pass, jumping back in front of CB Breshaud Breeland to come down with a 23-yard completion.

-- Gesicki did a great job of maintaining his concentration on Tagovailoa's superb 29-yard touchdown pass through three defenders, a pass that went through the hands of safety Juan Thornhill at the goal line. This was a perfect example of the call for Tagovailoa to maybe take more shots when needed, which definitely applied on this one.

-- Christian Wilkins and Baker (again) teamed for a third-down sack to end the K.C. drive after the Dolphins scored to make it 30-17.

-- Tagovailoa engineered a methodical 75-yard touchdown to make it 30-24, taking advantage of three Chiefs penalties, and capped it with a 1-yard quarterback sneak.

-- Zach Sieler made back-to-back big tackles for stops on the Chiefs' final drive that at least made it a longer field goal attempt for Harrison Butker. Unfortunately for the Dolphins, Butker still nailed the 46-yard kick.

LOWLIGHTS

FIRST HALF

-- The Dolphins went three-and-out on the opening series of the game after Jakeem Grant failed to catch a low pass from Tua Tagavailoa on third-and-8. While Grant had to go down to make the catch, it still was a good throw by Tua into a tight window.

-- The Dolphins were victimized on the Chiefs' first series by a pick play where tight end Travis Kelce's crossing route blocked out linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill, leaving Clyde Edwards open for a 16-yard gain.

-- The Miami secondary lost Sammy Watkins in the middle of the field and that led to a 37-yard completion after Watkins hurdled over safety Bobby McCain in the open field.

-- A 17-yard completion to Gesicki was nullified when Jesse Davis was flagged for being illegally downfield.

-- Tagovailoa took a shot after a 2-yard completion to Jakeem Grant and came up limping.

-- Rowe was beaten for a 21-yard gain by Kelce, though that was a case of a great route being complement by a great throw.

-- The Dolphins gave up a four-play, 75-yard touchdown drive when they couldn't slow down Tyreek Hill on a jet sweep the first time in the game he touched the ball.

-- The Dolphins' drive after the Chiefs' first touchdown was derailed by a second-down sack when Tagovailoa couldn't find anybody open and failed to get rid of the ball quickly enough.

-- Tagovailoa's first career interception came on a deep pass to Jakeem Grant down the middle and while CBS lead announcer Jim Nantz kept saying Grant should have caught the ball, that's not right or fair. First, the pass was a bit late because Tua had to sidestep pressure and then the ball was slightly underthrown, which allowed DB Rashad Fenton to get his hand on the ball as it was headed for Grant's stomach. So this was a combination of things that led to the pick, but it's not on Grant.

-- The Dolphins followed that play with a roughing-the-quarterback penalty that tacked on 15 yards after a 16-yard completion to Kelce. While the penalty was called on Van Ginkel, it appeared it was more Shaq Lawson who did anything egregious because he brought Mahomes to the ground with a high tackle after the ball was released.

-- The defense had no answer for Kansas City on its scoring drive late in the first half when Mahomes went 6-for-8 and one of the incompletions was a drop by fullback Anthony Sherman in the open field.

-- The Dolphins' final drive of the first half looked promising until Tua was sacked by Frank Clark after he got around Austin Jackson, who had a rough first half overall.

SECOND HALF

-- The second half began about as poorly for the Dolphins defense as possible, with sloppy tackling turning a short Mahomes completion to Edwards-Helaire into a 26-yard gain. To make matters worse, safety Bobby McCain was injured on the play.

-- Two plays later, McCain's replacement, Clayton Fejedelem got caught leaning forward while he was providing deep help and that allowed Hill to run right by him for an easy 44-yard touchdown.

-- The Dolphins' first drive of the second half consistent of a 5-yard run followed by two incompletions, and things only got worse when Mecole Hardman returned the ensuing punt 67 yards for a touchdown to make the score 28-10.

-- The Dolphins' second drive ended when Tagovailoa scrambled for 3 yards on a third-and-8 around midfield when Tua had absolutely nobody open after rolling out.

-- After getting a turnover, the Dolphins drive consisted of a 1-yard loss by Bowden on a shovel pass followed by Tagovailoa getting sacked in the end zone for a safety when three Chiefs defenders got free and Tua held the ball too long.

-- Oh, and we forgot to mention that left tackle Austin Jackson was injured on the Bowden shovel pass.

-- Another Dolphins second-half drive ended with a sack when Solomon Kindley was quickly beaten at the line on third down.

-- Rowe had good coverage downfield on a third-and-1 play downfield, but Kelce reached over him to bring down a 32-yard completion. It was simply a case of Kelce beating Rowe for the ball.

-- The third quarter ended with the Dolphins losing Hill in the middle of the field, allowing for a 13-yard completion.

-- On their second possession of the fourth quarter, the Dolphins lost Gesicki to an apparent shoulder injury after a 2-yard completion. For an offense already missing three running backs and wide receivers DeVante Parker and Jakeem Grant, this was not ideal.

-- The Dolphins defense had a chance to make a game-turning play when Kansas City faced a fourth-and-1 at the Miami 40, but couldn't prevent a short completion that Hill turned into a 22-yard gain.

-- The Dolphins' final chance at completing a miracle comeback ended when the Chiefs recovered onside kick, which pretty much was a given because it's almost impossible with the new rules for a kicking team to pull off a successful onside in a late-game situation.