Dolphins' "old school, blood, sweat and tears" start comes to a grinding halt vs Bills after Week 4 high vs Broncos

Miami’s offensive outburst against Denver was a record-setting performance for the ages.

Miami’s 70-20 beat down of the Denver Broncos the previous Sunday marked just the fourth time in the National Football League’s 103-year history a team has scored at least 70 points in a regular season game.

The NFL record for one game is 73 points, set by the Chicago Bears in the 1940 NFL Championship. The regular season record is 72 points by Washington in 1966 and the Los Angeles Rams scored 70 points in the 1950 NFL Championship Game.

Late in the fourth quarter of Week 3's Sunday game, the Dolphins had a chance to break the NFL’s regular season record and tie the Bears’ mark but opted to take a knee instead of kicking a field goal from the Broncos’ 28-yard line.

“It felt like chasing points, chasing a record, that’s not what we came here to do. That doesn’t have any bearing on the overall season outcome,” Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said after the game.

Classy move for sure by McDaniel.

But what was lost in Miami’s offensive outburst was how the Dolphins put the rest of the NFL on notice with how potent they are on offense.

The Dolphins are fast, they create defensive confusion, what with all the pre-snap shifting, motion and speed motions that are a huge part of “Mastermind McDaniel’s” offensive show, which prides itself on a punishing run game and an aerial attack that forces enemy defensive coordinators to defend the entire field.

Listing Dolphins' records in Week 3 vs Broncos

Need further convincing?

Miami’s 726 yards of offense were the second-most in NFL history. The 1951 Rams had 735.
Before the Bills game in Week 4, the Dolphins were averaging 43.3 points per game and 550.3 yards on offense through three games – both tops in the NFL. At this pace, these would both be NFL records in both categories. This is the best start for any team in NFL history (points and yards) and there are 14 games remaining.
Miami set a franchise-record with its 70-point outburst against Denver on Sunday.
Veteran running back Raheem Mostert and rookie De’Von Achane each scored four touchdowns. It’s only the second time in NFL history that teammates have scored four touchdowns in the same game. Priest Holmes and Derrick Blaylock did for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2004.
Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa completed his first 17 passes and finished with more touchdown passes (four) than incompletions (three).

And despite all the excitement and euphoria that followed, McDaniel, when addressing the South Florida media, spoke of how his team earned the result against Denver.

“One thing that is obvious to the coaching staff and to the players is that that (Sunday’s result) was earned through deliberate practice, and that you’re not able to have success in the National Football League any other way,” McDaniel told Sportskeeda.

“There are plenty of things that we could detail from a technique standpoint…we had a lot of really good results, but that doesn’t mean that from a technique standpoint, you let off the gas.

"That was old school, blood, sweat and tears, so to speak, in terms of preparation and I thought our week of practice prepared us to have that opportunity and then guys made plays in the moment, which is what it’s all about.”

One other aspect of Miami’s offense that’s tremendously improved from last season is fewer penalties. McDaniel believes that you are what you emphasize and cutting down penalties was a critical data point for the entire team during the offseason.

“When we started the offseason, the first thing we showed was every single one of those penalties to their face in a row,” McDaniel said.

“And the fact that all the players didn’t lose interest, that it had a visceral feeling that they wanted to, and you could see it every time that we operated as an offense, and how focused people were on it, trying to get it right. I’m very proud of that in terms of there’s not a quick fix to that.

"People have to look inward and self-assess across the board, those who are teaching it, and those who are executing it, and when you’re just worried about the things that you can control, you can get solutions to very real problems like we are over a three-game span with that stuff.”

After four games, the Dolphins (3-1). Entering Week 3, they were among the three NFL teams who were unbeaten, alongside the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers.

That record tumbled when they took a 48-20 hit against the Buffalo Bills in Week 4.

Dolphins' rampant start comes to a halt in Week 4

The Dolphins faced their toughest test thus far at Orchard Park, New York against their bitter AFC East rivals. Miami returned to the crime scene of one of their most bitter defeats last season when the Bills knocked them out of the AFC playoffs with a 34-31 victory on January 15, 2023.

Ahead of that game, McDaniel acknowledged that the Bills were great threats.

“They (Buffalo) are playing some high-level football themselves and that draws enough of your attention to the different teams from a season ago,” McDaniel said.

Miami's worst fears did, indeed, come true in Week 4, but they will have a way to get back on the horse this coming week when they take on the New York Giants.