The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Miami Dolphins 24-10 on Sunday to improve to 3-0. Despite the two-score win, Kansas City had its fair share of struggles and let the Dolphins stick around until the end.
The defense, in particular, struggled to get off the field on third down, allowing a 50% conversion rate (Miami went 8 for 16), which led to extended drives for the Dolphins.
Overall, the third-down defense has been fine this season—37.50%, 11th best in the NFL—but with tougher competition on the horizon,
they will need to fix these issues before the trend goes the wrong way.
Early issues
The Dolphins started the game with a lengthy 17-play drive in which they converted four third downs, two in the air, one on the ground, and one by way of a penalty.
The Chiefs tried to bring pressure, but Miami’s well-timed plays took advantage of loose secondary coverage.
On the snap, the Chiefs brought pressure with five, while dropping defensive lineman George Karlaftis into coverage as safety Christian Roland-Wallace and cornerback Nohl Williams came off the right side of the offense. Linebacker Nick Bolton and Karlaftis pick up the shallow crossing routes, while the rest of the defensive backs drop into a quarters look.
Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis is under pressure, and the rush nearly gets home, but at the last second he finds a target downfield and fires off his back foot. Rookie Mansoor Delane plays loose coverage and gives up outside leverage to the receiver.
Playing head up with his back to the sideline, the receiver makes one quick cut and comes back for the ball. The catch is made, and it was a quick first down for the Dolphins despite good pressure.
In the red zone, the Dolphins used a tremendous draw play to keep the sticks moving and set up a touchdown.
On third and long, an obvious passing down, the Dolphins took advantage of the alignment and caught them looking for the quarterback.
With the Chiefs in double three-techniques up front and both linebackers wider than normal, the Dolphins brought Ollie Gordon into the backfield on a motion and ran a quick trap draw look, pulling both Chiefs defensive tackles upfield and quickly putting the interior offensive line at linebacker level.
Gordon builds speed and takes the Chiefs defense for a ride, finally being dragged down inside the five.
These early conversions helped the Dolphins build momentum and stay in the game.
Mid-game trouble
The Dolphins would continue to attack on third down, and in the middle of the game they kept drives alive.
After being the most-sacked quarterback in the NFL through two weeks, Willis was very cognizant of the pressure and ripped the ball as quickly as he could find open targets.
The Dolphins set Willis up for success with quick routes built into their third-down packages and quick three-step drops out of shotgun; they made sure the ball was out of his hands before the pass rush could feasibly get home.
Rookie edge rusher R Mason Thomas came close a few times, but could not get home on third downs.
Pre-snap, Gordon’s motion pulls Bolton out wide to help in coverage. Bolton taps Delane to move him off the line, but the move gives the wide receiver enough space to create separation on a slant, leading to another first down.
The Dolphins made easy work of the Chiefs’ third-down defense early, but with adjustments and quick on-field thinking, the Chiefs overcame these issues.
Late-game adjustments
In the second half, the defense found ways to take away the quick routes, forcing Miami to look further downfield to convert late downs.
Pre-snap, the Chiefs show multiple defenders across the line of scrimmage, giving the impression that a blitz is coming.
On the snap, only four rushers come after Willis, and the Chiefs strategically drop into coverage to take away quick routes.
Hicks and Thomas take away the tight end on the short side of the formation, while Sneed takes away the flat route, and Tranquil covers the deep route over the middle. The in-cutout of the bunch formation might have been open, but Willis sped up because of the pressure show and thought he had his man deep.
Tranquill gave a good effort to stick on the deep route till the last minute, while Alohi Gilman was there to clean up the mess. The pass should have been picked off, but the play still got the defense off the field.
Late in the game, the Chiefs would put the game away for good.
On this snap, the Chiefs do bring pressure and drop into man coverage against the Dolphins’ bunch. Both outside corners quickly get to the receivers, taking away the quick throwing lanes.
The Chiefs bring seven against a six-man protection, and Willis quickly drops back to the middle. Anticipating the quick release, Nick Bolton slows his rush and jumps, batting down the pass and stopping the Dolphins.
Even if the pass had been delivered, Delane clung to the tight end and was in position to break it up.
The bottom line
The Chiefs’ mistakes were correctable, but against a better team, they could be the difference between winning and losing. The lack of pass rush, compounded by quick throws, allowed Miami to take advantage early.
The schedule will only get harder, and over the next few months, they will face some of the league’s best teams at converting on third down.
