That's right. You read that correctly. The Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs 31-3 today. And they did it in a dominating fashion.
Kansas City opened up the scoring, kicking a field goal on the first drive of the game. After that, the Dolphins put the offense in gear, and never let up.
Tight end Anthony Fasano scored the first two Miami touchdowns, the first on a 3 yard pass from Matt Moore. That play was a gorgeous play action pass, with a great fake by Moore, and Fasano finding himself wide open in the back of the endzone. The second was an even better play, with Moore on a bootleg to the right, throwing back across the field to a wide open Fasano, who back-peddled his way to a 35-yard touchdown.
The third quarter saw the two explosive weapons of the Dolphins offense get involved. Wide receiver Brandon Marshall caught a 14-yard touchdown from Moore, and running back Reggie Bush turned a reverse into a 28-yard touchdown run.
Kicker Dan Carpenter extended the Dolphins lead mid-way through the fourth quarter, connecting on a 42-yard field goal.
It wasn't all offense, either. The Dolphins sacked the Chiefs' Matt Cassel five times, with Kevin Burnett leading the way with 1.5 sacks. The defense hit Cassel 9 times. The secondary actually played fairly well. They held Cassel to a passer rating of 71.8 - with Sean Smith blanketing Dwayne Bowe most of the game. Bowe finished with 5 catches for 77 yards, but the majority of those catches came early in the game, when the Chiefs seemed to be forcing the ball to Bowe.
Maybe more importantly, the Chiefs were unable to sack Moore today. That's right. The Dolphins offensive line actually did something unusual - they protected the quarterback. Left tackle Jake Long looked to be healthy for the first time this year, simply stone-walling KC's pass rush specialist Tamba Hali.
Look for kmb8488's full analysis tomorrow.