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Undermanned Chiefs take care of toothless Dolphins

Knile Davis offered up a reasonable facsimile of Jamaal Charles on Sunday, powering the Kansas City Chiefs to a 34-15 win over the toothless Miami Dolphins. Our takeways:

  1. Ryan Tannehill essentially called himself out last week, acknowledging he needed to be better. The self pep talk didn't have the intended effect against the Chiefs. Tannehill finished with a 4.8 yards per attempt average (the dreaded Gabbert Zone) and continued to struggle with accuracy and vision. If social media is any indication, Dolphins fans are about out of faith in their one-time wunderkind.
  1. Much credit to the Chiefs, who are missing so many key contributors and still came away with a decisive road win. Knile Davis, filling in for an injured Jamaal Charles, gashed the Dolphins for 132 yards and a score. Joe McKnight made the most of his opportunities, scoring the first two offensive touchdowns of his career. Rex Ryan tried to get that out of the running back for years.
  1. A silver lining for the Dolphins? They have a legit player in linebacker Jelani Jenkins, who finished with 14 tackles, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble. That is an earned paycheck right there.
  1. The Mike Wallace-Ryan Tannehill deep ball connection is no longer a search-and-rescue mission. We've lowered the flags to half-mast and entered recovery mode.
  1. Tannehill's struggles were particularly distressing because he had the benefit of a good running game behind him. Lamar Miller finished with 108 yards on just 15 carries, going over the 100-yard mark for the first time since last Halloween. And yet, the passing game remained stuck in mud. So much for the Lazor effect.

The latest Around The NFL Podcast recaps all of the Week 3 action and picks the top team in the AFC.