The Wide World of Dirt

I know that there’s been a lot of talk this week about the Dolphins absolutely shellacking the Denver Broncos this weekend, but I was wondering just how historic this obliteration was.

Let’s start with the score itself: 70 points is tied for the fourth most points ever accumulated in an NFL game.

• In the 1940 NFL Championship game, an underdog Chicago Bears squad faced off against the highly-touted Washington Commanders, a team that had just dispatched the Bears weeks earlier. The contest was over before the first quarter ended, with the Bears putting up 501 offensive yards and a record 73 points.
• In a late-1966 matchup between the New York Giants and those pesky Commanders, the two teams combined for a record 113 points with Washington coming out on top this time, 72-41. The weirdest part about this game is that the Giants outgained the Commies by 48 yards and managed to lose by 31 points.
• The other 70-burger happened in 1950 when the Los Angeles Rams plowed through the Baltimore Colts, 70-27. The Rams held an 8-point lead in the first quarter, before LA logged 49 points in the game’s final three quarters behind the play of Bob Waterfield and Vitamin Smith.

Notice that this type of scoring hasn’t occurred since the NFL-AFL merger 1971, meaning we’ve never seen a performance of this caliber in football’s modern era.

Most of you reading this piece hadn’t seen a 70-point NFL game in your lifetimes until the Miami Dolphins curb-stomped the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

Next thing to look at is Miami’s total yardage in this game: 726. That same Rams team from 1950 came back and steamrolled the New York Yanks, 54-14 in the 1951 season opener in LA Memorial Coliseum

This game is notorious for Rams’ QB Norm Van Brocklin throwing for the current NFL record of 554 passing yards while the running game averaged 6 yards-per-carry on nearly 30 attempts for an all-time NFL record 735 yards in a single game.

The only problem was the Miami Dolphins were almost perfectly in sync through the air and on the ground. The Dolphins were the first team in NFL history to earn 350+ passing AND rushing yards in 60 minutes of play.

On top of that, the Dolphins are the first team in NFL history to make 10 offensive trips to the end zone with five each from rushing and passing, another record.

Speaking of rushing touchdowns, Dolphins running backs Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane are the first duo to score four touchdowns in one game.

Miami backs Mostert, Achane, and Chris Brooks 350 yards on the ground are more than 23 NFL teams have earned through the season’s first trio of games.

Speaking of Achane, he touched the ball twice in his career debut against New England last week, but De’Von arrived on the NFL scene in style.

After his performance on Sunday, the rookie out of Texas A&M touched the ball 22 times and gained 238 yards (208 rushing, 30 receiving) alongside his 4 scores.

Achane also became the 18th rookie back in NFL history to rush for 200+ yards in a game, joining a group consisting of Adrian Peterson, Bo Jackson, and Jerome Bettis.

And, it was only De’Von’s second game! Looking forward to how McDaniel and the coaching staff use him throughout the rest of the season, especially with Mostert putting up great numbers through three weeks.

Now for the man who handed the ball off and threw all over the field, Tua Tagovailoa.

Tua didn’t throw an incompletion until midway through the second quarter, ending the day going 23/26 for 309 yards and 4 TDs.

To put this into broader context, Tua is tied for 48th in single-game completion percentage at 88.5% with four other QBs, including Tom Brady.

However, there are 35 prior performances to reach a higher percentage than Tua that threw for 24 attempts or less.

For QBs throwing 25+ attempts, Tua join Brees (twice), Brady, Chris Chandler, Peyton, and his opponent on Sunday, Russell Wilson, to throw for 4+TDs in an NFL game.

Of those seven exhibitions of precision, Tua’s 309 passing yards are the 4th-most behind Brees, Wilson, and Chandler. Insane stuff.

The last passing TD of the game came from backup Mike White who slung a deep ball to Robbie Chosen for a 68-yard score in the 4th quarter.

Finally, what does 70 points and 726 yards of offense look like?

70 points in one game by the Dolphins is more than 18 teams have been able to muster this season, a group that consisting of the Jaguars, Bucs, and Falcons.

726 yards is more than the division rival Jets and the Titans have garnered through 2023’s first three games. You hate to see it.

These showings and records explain a lot about how great this single game was for Tua, Mike McDaniel, Raheem Mostert, De’Von Achane, and the Miami Dolphins.

Though this may be the only time they reach 70, Miami took mercy on the Broncos, choosing to kneel down in the waning minutes from Denver’s 30-yard line.

The Dolphins put up this startling stat line without star receiver Jaylen Waddle, but I’d be scared to see what would’ve happened if Jaylen played. Might’ve been 84.

Underscored in all of this is the fact that the Broncos offense, structurally, was rather sound! Russell Wilson threw a pick, but he was actually pretty good!

Miami’s Vic Fangio-led defense forced two brutal turnovers by popping the ball out of Denver receiver Courtland Sutton’s hands, halting any chance of a shootout.

As a Dolphins fan, this was the peak for me as a fan. Before this, Pat White being drafted by Miami was my peak.

We all know how that turned out and frankly, not much to be happy about after that!

I’m excited to see what Mike McDaniel cooks up for this Buffalo defense, and I have a feeling this will be a big game to watch this weekend.

(Cover Photo credit: Getty Images)