When the game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs began Friday night, the scene looked eerily similar to their meeting in this city in 1966, when the Dolphins were in their inaugural American Football League season. Just 19,387 showed up back then at the Orange Bowl.
Facing a rainy night and the Category 4 Hurricane Wilma working its way from Mexico, the fans were slow to arrive. The Chiefs were ahead 7-0 before many among a crowd that was much smaller than the announced attendance of 68,350 arrived at Dolphins Stadium, and went on to a 30-20 victory.
The teams were supposed to play here Sunday, but the threat of Wilma prompted the switch.
"When I got here in February, I don't think Wayne Huizenga," the Dolphins' owner, "mentioned that I would be introduced to so many new women in my life, particularly someone named Wilma," Joe Bailey, the chief executive of Dolphins Enterprises, said of Florida's numerous recent hurricane threats.
The Chiefs (4-2) showed no sign of jet lag in scoring on the game's first possession, maneuvering 80 yards in eight plays. Trent Green's 50-yard pass to Chris Horn put them at the Miami 18, and tight end Tony Gonzalez's 8-yard catch on 3rd-and-5 gave them a new set of downs at the 5.
Priest Holmes then sprinted around left end for the touchdown.
Miami (2-4) did not come to life until the second quarter, when Olindo Mare's 33-yard field goal, set up by a 47-yard punt return by Wes Welker, made the score 7-3.
The Chiefs countered with another 80-yard drive fueled in part by Green's passes of 17 yards to Dante Hall and 29 yards to Marc Boerigter. Larry Johnson's 2-yard dive gave Kansas City a 14-3 lead.
The Dolphins got another lift from Welker -- this time a 34-yard catch from Gus Frerotte -- that put Mare in position to make a 23-yard field goal with 5 seconds left in the half, cutting the deficit to 14-6.
The third quarter opened spectacularly for the Dolphins. On the first play, the rookie running back Ronnie Brown started around left end. He was almost jolted off his feet by free safety Greg Wesley, but he regained his balance and raced 65 yards along the left sideline for a touchdown that made the score 14-13.
It took just two plays for the Chiefs to counter. After a 24-yard pass from Green to Jason Dunn, Holmes burst free for a 35-yard touchdown to make the score 21-13.
Before the third quarter ended, the Chiefs increased their lead on a 30-yard field goal from Lawrence Tynes.
And in the fourth, Tynes added a personal-best 51-yard field goal, then topped it with a 52-yarder. The Dolphins closed the scoring with a 77-yard touchdown pass from Sage Rosenfels to Chris Chambers.
SHORT NOTICE
The Chiefs went through a lot just to get to the game, according to Bob Moore, the team's public-relations director. On Wednesday night, they were told by the National Football League that Friday would be the only day on which they would not play. They were asked to prepare for the possibilities of playing host to the game or playing at a neutral site.
So Moore and others made dozens of telephone calls, meeting well into the night on Wednesday and on Thursday morning. At about 10am Thursday, they were told they were going to Miami to play Friday.
That left the Chiefs with one regular practice day: Wednesday. On Thursday, they went through a walk-through and then Coach Dick Vermeil sent his players home to pack for an airport rendezvous at 8am Friday. Their charter left an hour later, arriving in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at about 1:20 in the afternoon, Moore said. The team was bused to its hotel, where the players tried to relax. Some attended a chapel service, and beds were made available to others. After their pregame meal, they left for Dolphins Stadium at about 3:30pm for the 7pm game.
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