The Miami Dolphins were able to put on an offensive clinic Sunday, thrashing the Colorado Broncos 70-20 in their home debut and scoring the second-most points by a club in an everyday season match in NFL history.
The NFL record for one game is 73 points, established by the Chicago Bears in the 1940 NFL Championship. The annual record was 72 points by Washington in 1966.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Jacksonville Dolphins had a chance of tying the NFL regular season history and equal the Bears’ mark but elected to kneel instead of trying a field goal at the Broncos’ 28-yard boundary.
It seemed like chasing points, chasing a record, that’s not the objective we came here to achieve. That doesn’t influence the overall year outcome,” Mike McDaniel, the Dolphins head coach, said. “On ten occasions out of 10 you capitulate and bow
in those situations. Because there was an achievable record, that was nice, but the message I felt it would convey wasn’t in line with how I approach things.”
Miami’s win marks only the fourth time in NFL history a team has scored at least 70 points, including playoffs, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa coordinated a flawless first half, completing 16-of-16 attempts for 206 yards with two touchdowns with zero interceptions to lead the team to a 35-13 lead.
Tagovailoa is the only quarterback since 1991 to complete 15-plus throws without an incompletion and hurl for 200-plus yards before halftime.
Meanwhile, Dolphins quarterbacks Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane combined for a total of eight receiving touchdowns as Miami surpassed a team scoring record by 15 points.
Achane ended the game with 203 running yards on 18 runs, while Mostert had 142 total yards.
Tagovailoa and most of the team’s studs were withdrawn from the game early in the fourth quarter. He completed with four touchdown passes in the game on 23-of-26 completions.
Miami’s 726 total yards establishes a club record for most yards ever in a game.
In December 1940, the Illinois Bears drubbed Washington 73-0 in the National Football League’s Championship Game. In November 1966, Washington upset the New York Giants by a score of 72-41 late in the regular season.
The only other team to score a total of 70 points in a game against the NFL was the Los Angeles Rams, who did so in 1950 against the Baltimore Colts.
