The Miami Dolphins scored 70—yes, 70—points in their win over the Denver Broncos, only two points shy of the NFL’s regular-season record set in 1966.
There may not be a more clear “winner” over the rest of the 2023 NFL season than the Miami Dolphins in Week 3.
The Dolphins scored 70—yes, 70—points in their win over the Denver Broncos, only two points shy of the NFL’s regular-season record set in 1966. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw for 309 yards and four scores. Running backs De’Von Achane and Raheem Mostert combined for eight touchdowns. Head coach Mike McDaniel, a former Broncos ball boy, called an offense that gained 726 yards on the day.
And Broncos fans thought the Nathaniel Hackett era was bad.
Here’s a look at the winners and losers from Sunday, including a deeper dive on the Dolphins.
Hold on, the Dolphins may have just scored again.
Jokes aside, Miami set or tied 13 team or individual records in their 70-20 win. The Dolphins are also the first team in league history to score five passing touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns in the same game. Miami’s offense—currently the league’s best—prioritizes speed, and Tyreek Hill, Mostert, and the rest of the team have demonstrated that this season.
That might not be a stretch.
“Shame on us if we put a ceiling on what we’re capable of,” McDaniel said after the game.
The Las Vegas Raiders trailed the Pittsburgh Steelers by eight points with two minutes and 22 seconds remaining in regulation Sunday night. Facing a fourth-and-four from Pittsburgh’s 8-yard line, head coach Josh McDaniels opted to kick a field goal rather than keep the offense on the field.
Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson knocked in a 26-yarder. Las Vegas trailed by five.
Carlson had converted on another field goal less than a minute of game time earlier, but McDaniels sent his offense back out after a Steelers penalty. In all, the Raiders got the same result—a field goal to cut it to a five-point deficit—but cut into the clock. After the game, McDaniels was questioned on his decision to tack on three points rather than trying to score a touchdown and tie the game up with an ensuing two-point conversion.
“You have two choices there,” McDaniels said. “You try to make it a five-point game where you have an opportunity to win it with a touchdown if you get the ball back. Or you try to go for it there, and if you happen to convert you have to make the two-point conversion, all the rest of it. So, those are the decisions you’ve got to make. I thought we did a decent job putting ourselves in third down there the next series with the defense to try to have a play to get off the field, and we just didn’t handle that play very well.”
The Raiders did get the ball back, but quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo threw this third interception of the night on the first play of the team’s final drive. The Steelers won, 23-18.
NFL’s Next Gen Stats noted that the Raiders’ win probability dropped by 5.4 percent when McDaniels opted for a field goal rather than rolling the dice on fourth down. The second-year Raiders head coach could learn a thing or two about playing the odds in Vegas.
Jonathan Gannon and Shane Steichen both earned head coaching jobs after spending last season as coordinators with the Philadelphia Eagles. Week 3 showed promising signs for both of them early in their head coaching tenures.
Steichen’s Indianapolis Colts went on the road and knocked off the previously unbeaten Baltimore Ravens in overtime, 22-19.
