Dolphins rout Chiefs for first victory

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It didn't matter how big of a lead the Miami Dolphins built on the Kansas City Chiefs. It still wasn't enough to keep them from feeling jittery.

One of two winless teams left in the NFL, the Dolphins came into Arrowhead Stadium Sunday with the cloud of two second-half collapses still hovering. They were also facing a Chiefs team that had mastered the art of the comeback: 0-3 to 4-3 in four games.

So it made sense that no one on the Dolphins' sideline was celebrating until the final seconds ticked away, and coach Tony Sparano's beleaguered team could finally enjoy a 31-3 victory.

"I'm just happy for the guys in our locker room," Sparano said. "All I've wanted to do for seven weeks is see these guys smile."

Matt Moore threw for 244 yards and three touchdowns, the first three-TD performance by a Miami quarterback since Chad Pennington in 2008. Reggie Bush ran for 92 yards and another score, and tight end Anthony Fasano hauled in two touchdown passes in the first half.

Brandon Marshall had eight catches for 106 yards and another score. The former Broncos wide receiver has 52 catches for 689 yards and seven touchdowns in eight games against the Chiefs in his career.

"We had a couple of big plays, which kind of lit the fire," Moore said. "You make a couple of big plays early and there's no telling what can happen."

The virtuoso performance by the Miami offense helped brush away the specter of an 0-7 start, which included a pair of disheartening losses the past two weeks: The Dolphins blew a 15-point lead in an overtime loss to Denver and a seven-point lead last week against the Giants.

"This is all about the players," Sparano said. "These guys did a super job all week long of putting all the garbage behind them."

Kansas City, meanwhile, looked more like the team that lost its first two games by a combined 89-10 than the one that rattled off four straight wins to climb into a tie atop the AFC West.

Matt Cassel was 20-for-39 for 253 yards despite facing a secondary missing cornerback Vontae Davis and had backup Nolan Carroll leave several times with a hamstring injury.

The Dolphins' relentless front spent most of the afternoon in Cassel's face, sacking him five times and forcing the slow-footed quarterback to scramble nine more times. The Chiefs came into the game having allowed 13 sacks all season, tied for sixth-best in the league.