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Final score: Chiefs outlast Dolphins, win 33-27 in dogfight

It was a game of runs on Sunday in Miami.

Kansas City Chiefs v Miami Dolphins Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images

The Kansas City Chiefs won a game of runs on Sunday in Miami, defeating the Dolphins 33-27 and clinching their fifth straight AFC West title. With the win, the Chiefs improved to 12-1 on the season as the Dolphins dropped to 8-5.

Kansas City found itself in a rather memorable scenario early in Sunday’s game. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had thrown more than one interception for the first time since Super Bowl LIV, and once again, his Chiefs faced a 10-point deficit. On this occasion, the Chiefs were fortunate to have more than six minutes; it would take all 60.

The league’s MVP frontrunner had a rather uncharacteristic start to the game in Miami. Dolphins cornerback Byron Jones intercepted Mahomes on the Chiefs’ first possession, Mahomes took a 30-yard sack on the second possession and safety Eric Bowe intercepted Mahomes on the third possession.

Dolphins rookie Tua Tagovailoa struck first on a 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mike Gesicki, followed by a 31-yard field goal by Jason Sanders to make it 10-0 Dolphins early in the second quarter.

After being blanked in the first quarter, the Chiefs responded in the second. A 32-yard sweep to wide receiver Tyreek Hill cut the Dolphins’ lead to three, and safety Tyrann Mathieu intercepted Tagovailoa on the next possession — his fourth pick in three games.

With less than three minutes left in the second quarter following the interception, Mahomes quickly pushed the offense down the field, finishing the drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Travis Kelce to take a 14-10 lead at the half.

Mahomes picked up right where he left off in the third quarter, launching a 44-yard touchdown pass in stride to Hill. After a three-and-out, Mecole Hardman returned a punt 67 yards for a 28-10 lead. Hardman fumbled the ball to the Dolphins near the goal line on the next Chiefs’ possession, but that put defensive tackle Chris Jones in prime position for a sack of Tagovailoa for a safety.

The Dolphins finally ended Kansas City’s 30-point run in the fourth quarter. Cornerback intercepted Mahomes in the end zone, and Tagovailoa hit Gesicki on a 29-yard touchdown pass — their second connection of the game. A 1-yard touchdown run by Tagovailoa cut the Chiefs’ lead to 30-24.

With less than five minutes to go, the Dolphins needed a stop, but Mahomes found Hill for a first down on fourth-and-1, and kicker Harrison Butker iced the game with a 46-yard field goal. Sanders managed a 44-yarder to draw the Dolphins to 33-27, but they could not recover an onside kick to get the ball back.

Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark notched his fifth sack of the season to close the first half, snapping a three-game streak without a sack. Rookie defensive linemen Mike Danna and Tershawn Wharton each had a sack.

Mahomes finished the game 24 of 34 for 393 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Mahomes hadn’t thrown more than one interception in a regular-season game since Monday Night Football against the Rams back on November 19, 2018.


Injuries


Special teams

  • Hardman’s punt-return touchdown was the second of his career.

Rapid reaction

The game’s rapid reaction will be posted to our homepage shortly


CATEGORY KC MIA
Total Yards 448 367
Total Plays 61 77
Yards per play 7.3 4.8
Rushing Yards 94 80
Rush Attempts 24 24
Yards per rush 3.90 3.30
Passing Gross Yards 393 316
Sacks/Yards lost 3/39 4/29
Passing Net Yards 354 287
Comp/Att/Pct 24/34/71% 28/49/57%
Yards per pass 9.60 5.40
Interceptions thrown 3 1
Fumbles lost 1 0
Turnovers 4 1
Penalties/Yards 8/56 3/35
Total Drives 13 14
First downs 22 27
Rushing first downs 5 5
Passing first downs 15 18
Penalty first downs 2 4
Third down (Made/Att/Pct) 5/11/45% 7/15/47%
Fourth down (Made/Att/Pct) 1/1/100% 0/0/0%
Goal to go (Made/Att/Pct) 1/1/100% 2/2/100%
Red Zone (Made/Att/Pct) 1/2/50% 2/3/67%
Touchdowns 4 3
TDs/Rushing 1 1
TDs/Passing 2 2
TDs/Interception 0 0
TDs/Kickoff Return 0 0
TDs/Fumble Return 0 0
TDs/Punt Return 1 0
TDs/Defense/ST 1 0
Safeties 1 0
Extra Points (Made/Att) 4/4 3/3
Field Goals (Made/Att) 1/1 2/3
Two-Point Conv (Made/Att) 0/0 0/0
Kickoffs (Num/EZ/TB) 6/6/6 7/5/5
Punts (Num/Yds) 4/198 5/234
Gross Punting Avg Yds 49.5 46.8
Net Punting Avg Yds 47.5 29.4
Total Rtn Yds (No KOs) 72 45
Punt Returns (Num/Yds) 1/67 3/8
Kickoff Returns (Num/Yds) 2/15 0/0
Int Returns (Num/Yds) 1/5 3/37
Punts blocked 0 0
FGs/PATs Blocked 0/0 0/0
Timeouts (Rem/Used) 1/2 0/3
Time of Possession 28:30 31:30
Attendance -- 13,057

CHIEFS PASSING C ATT YDS AVG TD LG INT SK SKYD RTG
Patrick Mahomes 24 34 393 11.6 2 44 3 3 39 91.9
TEAM 24 34 393 11.6 2 44 3 3 39 //

DOLPHINS PASSING C ATT YDS AVG TD LG INT SK SKYD RTG
Lynn Bowden 0 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 39.6
Tua Tagovailoa 28 48 316 6.6 2 29 1 4 29 83.3
TEAM 28 49 316 6.4 2 29 1 4 29 //

CHIEFS RUSHING CAR YDS AVG TD LG
Clyde Edwards-Helaire 16 32 2.0 0 12
Patrick Mahomes 5 9 1.8 0 6
Le'Veon Bell 2 21 10.5 0 13
Tyreek Hill 1 32 32.0 1 32t
TEAM 24 94 3.9 1 32T

DOLPHINS RUSHING CAR YDS AVG TD LG
DeAndré Washington 13 35 2.7 0 7
Tua Tagovailoa 6 24 4.0 1 9
Patrick Laird 4 19 4.8 0 9
Lynn Bowden 1 2 2.0 0 2
TEAM 24 80 3.3 1 9

CHIEFS RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD LG TGTS YAC
Travis Kelce 8 136 17.0 1 32 10 43
Tyreek Hill 3 79 26.3 1 44t 7 22
Clyde Edwards-Helaire 5 59 11.8 0 26 6 50
Sammy Watkins 2 52 26.0 0 37 3 26
Mecole Hardman 3 40 13.3 0 26 3 44
Le'Veon Bell 2 14 7.0 0 9 3 9
Demarcus Robinson 1 13 13.0 0 13 1 6
Anthony Sherman 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
TEAM 24 393 16.4 2 44T 34 200

DOLPHINS RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD LG TGTS YAC
Lynn Bowden 7 82 11.7 0 22 9 26
Antonio Callaway 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Mike Gesicki 5 65 13.0 2 29t 6 6
Jakeem Grant Sr. 3 32 10.7 0 18 5 28
Mack Hollins 5 66 13.2 0 23 9 10
Patrick Laird 1 4 4.0 0 4 1 2
DeVante Parker 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Malcolm Perry 1 5 5.0 0 5 2 1
Adam Shaheen 2 26 13.0 0 16 3 23
Durham Smythe 2 19 9.5 0 10 3 6
DeAndré Washington 2 17 8.5 0 10 4 6
TEAM 28 316 11.3 2 29T 46 108

CHIEFS FUMBLES FUM LOST FF REC
(OWN)
TD REC
(OPP)
TD
Mecole Hardman 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Patrick Mahomes 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
Sammy Watkins 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
TEAM 2 1 1 1 0 0 0

DOLPHINS FUMBLES FUM LOST FF REC
(OWN)
TD REC
(OPP)
TD
Kamu Grugier/Hill 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Byron Jones 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
Emmanuel Ogbah 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
TEAM 1 0 1 1 0 1 0

CHIEFS DEFENSE TOT SOLO ASST SACK YDS INT TFL PD QBH TD FF FR
Bashaud Breeland 5 4 1 0.0 0.0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0
Frank Clark 2 2 0 1.0 8.0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
Mike Danna 4 4 0 1.0 7.0 0 3 0 1 0 0 0
Rashad Fenton 2 1 1 0.0 0.0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Willie Gay 3 2 1 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Anthony Hitchens 2 2 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Chris Jones 4 4 0 1.0 6.0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
Tanoh Kpassagnon 3 2 1 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Patrick Mahomes 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Tyrann Mathieu 2 2 0 0.0 0.0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0
Ben Niemann 4 4 0 0.0 0.0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
Derrick Nnadi 4 4 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Alex Okafor 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0
Mike Pennel 4 2 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
L'Jarius Sneed 7 7 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Daniel Sorensen 7 4 3 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Juan Thornhill 3 3 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Charvarius Ward 1 1 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Sammy Watkins 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Tershawn Wharton 2 2 0 1.0 8.0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
TEAM 59 50 9 4 29 1 7 9 8 0 1 1

DOLPHINS DEFENSE TOT SOLO ASST SACK YDS INT TFL PD QBH TD FF FR
Jerome Baker 8 5 3 2.5 37.0 0 2 0 3 0 0 0
Raekwon Davis 5 3 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kamu Grugier/Hill 3 3 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Xavien Howard 1 0 1 0.0 0.0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
Brandon Jones 8 4 4 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Byron Jones 3 2 1 0.0 0.0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0
Shaq Lawson 4 3 1 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Bobby McCain 2 2 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Nik Needham 5 3 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Emmanuel Ogbah 1 1 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Eric Rowe 7 6 1 0.0 0.0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0
Zach Sieler 3 3 0 0.0 0.0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0
Andrew Van Ginkel 2 2 0 0.0 0.0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
Christian Wilkins 5 2 3 0.5 2.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
TEAM 57 39 18 3 39 3 6 5 7 0 1 2

CHIEFS INT INT YDS AVG LG TD
Tyrann Mathieu 1 5 5.0 5 0
TEAM 1 5 5.0 5 0

DOLPHINS INT INT YDS AVG LG TD
Xavien Howard 1 0 0.0 0 0
Byron Jones 1 15 15.0 15 0
Eric Rowe 1 22 22.0 22 0
TEAM 3 37 12.3 22 0

CHIEFS KICK RET NO YDS AVG LG TD
Mecole Hardman 1 15 15.0 15 0
Demarcus Robinson 1 0 0.0 0 0
TEAM 2 15 7.5 15 0

DOLPHINS KICK RET NO YDS AVG LG TD
TEAM 0 0 0 0 0

CHIEFS PUNT RET NO YDS AVG LG TD
Mecole Hardman 1 67 67.0 67 1
TEAM 1 67 67.0 67 1

DOLPHINS PUNT RET NO YDS AVG LG TD
Antonio Callaway 2 12 6.0 11 0
Jakeem Grant Sr. 1 /4 /4.0 /4 0
TEAM 3 8 2.7 11 0

CHIEFS KICKING FGM/FGA PCT LONG XP PTS
Harrison Butker 1/1 100.0 46 4 7
TEAM 1/1 100.0 46 4 7

DOLPHINS KICKING FGM/FGA PCT LONG XP PTS
Jason Sanders 2/3 66.7 44 3 9
TEAM 2/3 66.7 44 3 9

CHIEFS PUNTING NO YDS AVG TB I20 LG
Tommy Townsend 4 198 49.5 0 1 58
TEAM 4 198 49.5 0 1 58

DOLPHINS PUNTING NO YDS AVG TB I20 LG
Matt Haack 5 234 46.8 1 1 54
TEAM 5 234 46.8 1 1 54

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