The Miami Dolphins suffered their third loss of the season on Sunday, as they fell to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Frankfurt, Germany.
Miami entered today’s game with a chance to secure the top spot in the AFC standings. With the loss they now risk falling into second place in the AFC East.
It was an uncharacteristically inefficient game for Miami’s offense, scoring zero points in the first half. They struggled with ball security, miscommunication and injuries to receiver wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and guard Robert Jones.
Miami was almost able to mount a comeback in the second half, as the defense, led by linebacker Bradley Chubb, pitched a second-half shutout.
The game came down to the final drive, as quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the offense found themselves driving into Kansas City territory down 21-14 in the final minutes. Unfortunately, the contest ended on a snap blown by Tagovailoa resulting in a sack.
“We had the mentality of our team tested,” said Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel. “Sometimes you learn the most from losses, you hate that it has to go that way.”
Despite another tough loss in a key matchup, McDaniel expressed confidence in his team learning valuable lessons heading into the bye week.
“I’m very confident in our team’s commitment to each other, and I’m very confident that we will get better just as our practices and our attention to detail has drastically improved since the Buffalo game,” continued McDaniel. “These are hard lessons, but they’re real in the NFL.”
It’s discouraging that the Dolphins still sit without a signature win on the season. They’ve been outperformed significantly in all three losses. They must correct the issues plaguing them over the bye week.
Miami’s three biggest games of the season have resulted in losses to Buffalo, Philadelphia and now Kansas City. Now, it could be argued the Dolphins aren’t a top-tier team and have simply capitalized on an easy schedule. They still have more chances to prove they’re contenders in the second half of the regular season.