Kansas City Chiefs vs. Miami Dolphins: Full Report Card Grades for Miami
Last week, we saw the Miami Dolphins lose to the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo. I said that the loss was not the "Dolphins being Dolphins" type of game fans were claiming it was and that the Bills were a very good team that simply outexecuted Miami.
This week, Miami lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 34-15 in a game that the Chiefs tried to give away at least three or four times.
The reasons for this loss will be plainly looked at here in this report card, and you might notice that for most of these positions, the grades are actually going to be pretty high.
In fact, if you were to read these grades without looking at the score, you might even think Miami won.
I said that the New England game was more indicative of who this team is than the Buffalo game. I was wrong.
This game against the Chiefs is more indicative of who the Dolphins are than the Buffalo game.
Now onto the grades.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Where should I start with Ryan Tannehill?
First off, he shouldn't have been throwing the ball 49 times. That's not on him, that's on the coaching staff.
However, no matter how many times you do throw the ball, you should at least break 50 percent. Tannehill failed to do that, and his statistics suffered for it.
Tannehill also took too many sacks, as all four times he was hit in the backfield were coverage sacks, not failures on the part of the offensive line.
But I'm not going to be too hard on him for that because that's not his fault entirely. That's only about 10 percent on him, if anything.
His receivers were bad Sunday, which will be explained more when we get to the receivers.
As for Tannehill, his ball placement was great in the first half, and he had some impressive drives in the second and third quarters.
As for the game plan around him? It was terrible, but that's another slide.
I might be being generous here, but Tannehill is going to get a lot of abuse for this game. It's just not going to be from me because the team around him (mainly the coaches) failed him greatly. It's speaks to his credit that he didn't turn the ball over.
Grade: C-
Running Backs
2 of 10
I joked about Daniel Thomas before the game in the game preview.
He was very good, both in blocking and running. Lamar Miller was great, running for 108 yards on 15 carries.
Let's go back to elementary school when you learned averages: 108 divided by 15 equals 7.2.
When that's what your running back is averaging, you might want to get him up to 20 carries. At one point during the game, Miller's average was at eight yards per carry, so this isn't hindsight, it was something observed as the game went on.
As for the Dolphins running game as a whole, it averaged 7.05 yards per carry on 20 carries.
As a team, shouldn't that 7.05 yards per carry tell you it has to run the ball at least 30 times?
Grade: A
Wide Receivers and Tight Ends
3 of 10
Drops, drops, drops, a lot of drops.
That's the story of the Dolphins' wide receivers, except for two: Mike Wallace and Brian Hartline.
Wallace and Hartline played well this afternoon, doing their best to make Tannehill's job easier.
As for the other receivers, it was all about the dropsies, from Brandon Gibson to Jarvis Landry. If a ball was thrown their way, they couldn't hang onto it.
Even Hartline had his drops during the game, but he did produce, which is why I made an exception for him as a Dolphins wide receiver that played well. Overall, it was bad for this unit, though—a unit that looked like it would be one of Miami's biggest strengths.
Grade: D
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
The Dolphins allowed four sacks, but I couldn't even blame the offensive line for those sacks.
Look back at the tape when the game's All-22 coverage comes online Tuesday: All four sacks were coverage sacks.
The run blocking by the offensive line was great, this despite not having one of their best run-blockers in Shelley Smith.
The pass blocking was pretty good, too.
Good game by the offensive line—it's just a shame that the rest of the offense (sans the running backs) wasted such a good effort.
Grade: B+
Defensive Line
5 of 10
You really cannot do much better than the Dolphins' defensive line did.
Miami sacked Alex Smith five times, forced a fumble and recorded a safety.
What an impressive day by Miami's best and deepest unit.
Shame it was wasted.
The best performers on the line were Oliver Vernon and Earl Mitchell, who both made an impact when they were on the field. As usual, Cameron Wake did the same, despite the fact that he didn't have a single sack.
Grade: A+
Linebackers
6 of 10
This week, I'm going to write something about Jelani Jenkins explaining why he's been so good.
He is Miami's best linebacker so far, and he had a great game with 10 tackles, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble.
As for the rest of the unit, it was unimpressive. Philip Wheeler remained forever lost and forever unable to tackle. Jason Trusnik is a good guy and is great on special teams, but Miami really misses Koa Misi. Chris McCain made some appearances but not enough. He should be playing in Wheeler's spot full time.
Grade: C-
Secondary
7 of 10
Miami's defensive backs don't look like they should be a very effective unit. They're outsized, they seem a bit slower than they actually are, and yet, they're also superbly effective when called into play.
The Chiefs beat the Dolphins through picking on the linebackers underneath. You didn't see Dwayne Bowe too much, as he was a nonfactor.
That seems to happen when teams play the Dolphins. Now, if only this elite defensive line and this very effective secondary (featuring a great cornerback in Brent Grimes) had linebackers that could support them.
Grade: B
Special Teams
8 of 10
How do I grade this unit? How do I grade a unit that punted the ball well but couldn't stop punt returns?
How do I grade Jarvis Landry, who had a 74-yard kick return, yet also fielded a punt that was going into the end zone at the two-yard line?
How do I grade Caleb Sturgis, who missed a 48-yard field goal (that shouldn't have been kicked) and then hit a 51-yard field goal that was perfect?
I'm confused, but I'll give them a D. The stupid outweighs the smart here.
Grade: D
Coaching
9 of 10
Now, this aspect of the game is easy to grade.
Foolish is the team that can average close to eight yards per carry, yet only run the ball 20 times. Foolish is the team that seems to accentuate its quarterback's weaknesses, not its strengths.
Not just foolish is this team but also cowardly by going for a field goal on 4th-and-2 in opposition territory when the offense was clicking. The field goal was wide, as if the football gods did not approve of such cowardice.
Only a foolish team could lose a game by three scores when it won the turnover battle, won in the trenches and got a safety and a 74-yard kick return.
Also, the Dolphins were penalized six times for 65 yards. Two of those penalties for 30 yards were the fault of the coaches. The first was due to the team on the bench bumping into the officials. The second was an illegal substitution because the player failed to get in between the numbers before getting to his place. The Dolphins were snapping the ball on that play.
Once again, this coaching staff left a bad taste in my mouth and likely left a bad taste in yours.
Grade: F
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Grade |
| Quarterback | C- |
| Running Back | A |
| Wide Receiver | D |
| Offensive Line | B+ |
| Defensive Line | A+ |
| Linebacker | C- |
| Defensive Backs | B |
| Special Teams | D |
| Coaching | F |
| Cumulative Grade | C- |
This was a horrible game all around, yet there were still A's.
When you're lacking at coach and possibly at quarterback, this is what's going to happen.
Tannehill could be good with a new head coach, but Joe Philbin would likely mess up Dan Marino in his prime with the way he coached Sunday.
It's been a theme with this team. On to London and hopefully better days for this team.
Statistics courtesy of NFL.com.
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