"I'm definitely pissed off," safety Louis Delmas said. "I can only speak for myself, but 1-2 is definitely not the way to start off a successful season."

The Dolphins' lack of fire, and lack of attention to detail, showed with missed tackles, dropped passes and shoddy special teams play.

Quarterback Ryan Tannehill (21 for 43, 205 yards, one touchdown) joined the malaise as he was hard-pressed to do anything to get the offense moving.

Coach Joe Philbin didn't help matters by choosing not to aggressively go for a touchdown right before halftime despite trailing, 14-0. There was questionable clock management during that stretch as the Dolphins elected not to take a timeout with 48 seconds left — hence the booing — and allowed the clock to run down to 19 seconds before the next snap. Kicker Caleb Sturgis ended up kicking a 22-yard field goal with two seconds left for a 14-3 halftime deficit.

"I saved a timeout, I was happy," Philbin said. "It took us a little too long. I knew the play before we had a gain and we could have taken one there, certainly. But things can happen and you don't get points."

There were also two bonehead penalties. On one, wide receiver Brian Hartline (and teammates) were hit with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when they watched Hartline pretend to sink a putt to celebrate his 1-yard touchdown reception that cut the Dolphins' deficit to 14-10 in the third quarter. On the other, the Dolphins bench was penalized because a coach was too far on the field in the first quarter.

"I think we had our opportunities to make plays," said Tannehill, who was sacked four times. "I thought we rushed the ball decently well the entire game. We had opportunities in the passing game. We just couldn't put the whole thing together."

The defense and special teams set up 12 of the Dolphins' 15 points. The defense — tackle Jared Odrick and end Derrick Shelby, caused and recovered a fumble that set up a 19-yard touchdown drive. Special teams returned a kickoff 74 yards and set up a 51-yard field goal. And the defense struck with a sack/safety by linebacker Jelani Jenkins and defensive tackle Randy Starks after a punt nailed the Chiefs at their own 1-yard line.

But the Dolphins couldn't capitalize. Running back Knile Davis (132 yards rushing) and quarterback Alex Smith (19 for 25, 186 yards, three touchdowns) kept the offense moving. And linebackers Justin Houston (one sack) and Tamba Hali (one sack) and nose tackle Dontari Poe (1.5 sacks) kept the defense alive.

Running back Lamar Miller, playing for injured running back Knowshon Moreno, did his part with a career-best 108 yards rushing.

But throughout the first three games there have been numerous examples of the Dolphins not playing smart football, units not complementing each other, and then trying to overcome self-inflicted damage. Unfortunately, it's been a theme for the season.

And unfortunately for the Dolphins, disharmony also seems to be a theme. They just can't seem to get it together.

"I don't think we complement each other well at all," Delmas said. "When the offense is up, the defense gives up plays, and when the defense gets the three-and-out, the offense doesn't drive it down.

"So if we're going to have any chance of winning out here we've got to be able to complement each other better than we do."