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One of the harshest Kansas City Chiefs’ critics all season believes they’ll advance from their Wild Card matchup with the Miami Dolphins.
It’s not the Chiefs’ form down the stretch of the season, which has Stephen A. Smith picking them to win, but rather his lack of belief in Miami.
On ESPN’s First Take, Smith said he isn’t giving the Dolphins any hope going into what could be colder conditions at Arrowhead.
The weather for Saturday’s contest is expected to be around 2 degrees Fahrenheit, equivalent to -16 Celsius.
However, Smith says the only ones who can beat the Chiefs this weekend are the Chiefs.
He told ESPN: “No hope. I’m not giving Miami any hope in that weather because they’re going on the road, they’re going against a decent team (the Chiefs), and to me, the only shot Miami has is for Patrick Mahomes’ receivers to drop the football, which is obviously plausible based on what we have seen this season.
“They (Miami) wet the bed any time they come up against stiff competition.”
During the regular season, Chief receivers were among the worst in the NFL regarding drops, with Rashee Rice leading them with eight per Fox Sports and Travis Kelce at seven.
Fox also had the Dolphins star wideout Tyreek Hill, who led the NFL in receiving yards this season (1,799) with 11 drops.
The Dolphins and Chiefs finished with identical 11-6 records this season.
Kansas City though earned the tiebreaker, beating the Dolphins in Frankfurt earlier in the campaign (21-14).
For Smith to call Kansas City a decent team is as close to a compliment as he’s given them in 2023.
Smith previously told Kelce to stop defending his receivers, while telling Mahomes enough is enough and saying you can’t win a Super Bowl if wide receivers can’t catch.
Chiefs-Dolphins Playoff Record
Recent playoff history and the Chiefs’ recent success against Miami gives KC the edge this weekend.
Andy Reid’s team has made it to the AFC Championship Game on five successive occasions.
Kansas City’s only lost one of their last nine playoff games at Arrowhead, 27-24, to the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2021 AFC Championship Game.
It’s been over a dozen years since Miami beat KC at Arrowhead, earning a comfortable 31-3 triumph in 2011, with KC winning the last four games against them.
Saturday, though, will be the first time these teams meet in the playoffs since 1994.
If you believe past history matters in these games, then the Dolphins might have a psychological edge.
That’s because the Chiefs have never beaten Miami in a postseason affair, losing 27-17 on New Year’s Eve in 94 in the Wild Card Round.
Two of the three playoff matchups between these two were decided by a field goal or fewer.
Only one of those encounters took place in Kansas City when Miami won a Christmas Day thriller at Municipal Stadium, 27-24, in double overtime.
The closest game occurred in the Wild Card Round in 1990 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami.
Dan Marino hit Mark Clayton with a 12-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter of that outing with the Pete Stoyanovich extra point proving to be enough to give them a 17-16 come-from-behind victory.