Football’s Greatest Performances

222-0.

That is the final score of the highest-scoring football game of all time.

But that was college football, and they’re no stranger to high-scoring games.

And despite that game happening 107 years ago, college football has still managed to produce some record-breaking scores in more recent years.

Back in 2018, a Texas A&M team beat LSU 74-72 after seven overtime periods, but that game was tied at 31 apiece going into OT. A 2022 game between SMU and Houston ended 77-63 in regulation. Not a single extra minute was needed.

140 total points scored between two teams in just 60 minutes.

This doesn’t happen often in the NFL; in fact, it has never happened in the history of the league.

Let’s take a look at some of the NFL’s highest-scoring games of all time.

The NFL’s Highest-Scoring Games

The most points ever scored by a team in a single game happened way back in 1940, when the Chicago Bears beat the Washington *Redacted* 73-0 in the NFL Championship Game.

That game was long before the NFL as we know it now. Since the Super Bowl era began (back in 1966), the most points scored in a game was 72 by those same Washington *Redacted*.

That game, which ended 72-41, also had the most total points scored between two teams in a game at 113 and occurred in that inaugural season back in 1966.

Since then, no team has ever eclipsed the 70-point mark.

Until week 3 of the 2023 NFL season.

Miami Dolphins 70 - 20 Denver Broncos

On September 24th, 2023, the 0-2 Denver Broncos traveled to Miami, trying to get their first win of the season against the 2-0 Dolphins.

Little did Denver know, they were about to be on the receiving end of the most absurd offensive performance the league had ever seen.

The Miami Dolphins received the game’s opening kickoff for a touchback.

3 plays later, they scored their first touchdown.

They would find the end zone again on their next drive and end the first quarter up 14-7.

They began the second quarter with a 75-yard touchdown drive, and the Broncos responded with a field goal, making it 21-10.

The Dolphins would then mount yet another touchdown drive to bring their point total up to 28 with 1:49 remaining in the half.

20 seconds and a Broncos fumble later, they would score their fifth touchdown.

They went into halftime up 35–13.

They began the second half with three straight touchdown drives. By the start of the fourth quarter, the score was already 56-13.

At this point in the game, Miami took out all their starters.

The Dolphins’ backups were responsible for their last two touchdowns of the game, which included a 68-yard touchdown pass from QB Mike White to wide receiver Robbie Chosen (formally known as Robbie Anderson) and a 67-yard touchdown run by rookie running back Devon Achane, who brought the total to 70.

On their last drive of the game, the Dolphins drove down into field goal range and had the opportunity to kick a field goal that would tie the all-time NFL record for most points in a game.

With the fans chanting for them to break the record, the Dolphins elected to kneel and run out the clock.

Miami Head Coach Mike McDaniel sacrificed the record and spared the Broncos whatever dignity they had left.

The Incredible Game Stats

In this game, the Dolphins finished with 726 total yards of offense, setting an all-time NFL record for yards in a game and exactly doubling the total yards of the opposing Denver Broncos, who finished with 363.

The only other time a team has eclipsed 700 total yards in a game, Harry Truman was president of the United States.

The chart below shows every single play from the Dolphins’ 2023 season and the yards they gained on each play. The dots that are highlighted in orange are the plays that occurred in the game against Denver. The dots that are circled in red indicate the plays in that game where a touchdown occurred.

Those dashed lines on the chart indicate the average yards gained on a play by Miami. They averaged nearly two times as many yards per play in this game than they did in every other game this season.

Funnily enough, the NFL’s fifth highest-scoring game of all time (3rd highest in the Super Bowl era) also occurred during this 2023 season in a matchup between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Raiders won the matchup 63-21 and finished the game with just 378 total yards.

If Miami had made it to the end zone on all 14 of their offensive possessions, they would’ve ended the game traveling a total of 944 yards.

They finished with 726.

They picked up 76.9% of the total yards they could’ve possibly gained in that game. The Raiders, in their 63-point win against the Chargers, gained just 49.1%.

This Dolphins’ offensive performance was more dominant and more impressive than anything we have ever seen on an NFL field.

To give even more perspective, in that Washington game that finished 72-41 back in 1966, Washington scored 3 defensive/special teams touchdowns.

Miami’s offense scored all 10 in this game.

No offense in the Super Bowl era has ever scored more than 8.

The craziest part about this game is that the analytics suggest that the Dolphins left points on the board. Take a look at this chart measuring their net EPA and the actual point margin in each of their games this year.

Quick Side Note - An Explanation of EPA & Other NFL Performance Metrics can be found here.

Net EPA (Expected Points Added) essentially measures the margin of victory/loss from an analytical standpoint.

You can see how closely Net EPA follows the actual point margin in each of the Dolphins’ games this season. It even perfectly depicts the games in which Miami won or lost.

In every game Miami won, the Net EPA was greater than 0, and the opposite is true for every game they lost.

Now take a look at the difference between the net EPA and the actual point margin in that Week 3 game against Denver. Analytics suggest that the Dolphins should’ve won by nearly 17 more points than they actually did!

A few other interesting statistics

• Miami scored 30% of all their 50+ yard touchdowns this season in just this one game

• Miami scored a touchdown on 71% of their possessions

• 350 rushing yards is the 17th most team rushing yards in a game in the Super Bowl era

• Tyreek Hill reached 22.07 MPH on a 15-yard catch, the fastest by any ball-carrier at that point in the season

• Devon Achane reached 21.93 MPH on his 67-yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter, the 2nd fastest at by any ball-carrier at that point in the season

• The Dolphins were the first ever team to gain both 350+ yards rushing and 350+ yards passing in a single game

• The Dolphins finished 0.7 yards short of the all-time record of yards per play in a single game

• Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa finished with more touchdown passes (4) than incompletions (3)

In all likelihood, we may never see a team put up a more dominant offensive showing than what we saw from the Miami Dolphins.

Though they don’t have the all-time points record to show for it, this game will go down in history as the greatest offensive performance of all time.

Thanks for navigating the NFL’s Darkest Timeline with me. If you enjoyed this read, share it with a human being who you think would appreciate it too.

Until next time,

Michael

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