The Miami Dolphins are certainly hoping to piggyback off of their 43 point outburst against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 5 of the 2020 NFL season. The point total marks the team’s highest output since 2015 and can potentially serve as a launch point for the offense’s confidence as this young team looks to fully gather their momentum and brace for the final 11 games of the 2020 season. But the 43-point performance is just a smaller piece of the big picture with Miami’s offense. Because between the end of the 2019 season and the beginning of the 2020 season, the Miami Dolphins are suddenly a team capable of scoring at a significant clip on any given week.
Between the final 5 games of 2019 and the first 5 games of 2020, the Dolphins (who are 5-5 over those games) have scored 279 points, nearly 28 full points per game. With five separate occurrences of 28+ points scored over the Dolphins’ last 10 games, Miami is scoring at an unprecedented rate versus the recent history of the team.
Don’t believe us? Consider this.
Miami has scored 28+ points in half of their last ten games. To find the next five most recent 28+ point performances prior to the team’s last 10 games, you have to go back over 44 games to find five. That’s quite the improvement, especially considering Miami endured a brand new offensive line and a brand new offensive coordinator in the middle of this 10 game stretch.
It’s been a tough road for the Dolphins in recent years. To average 28 points in a single season (Miami is currently on pace to average 27.2 points per game), the team will need to score 448 points on the season. Miami is currently on pace to score 435 points through five games — a third of the season. And there are still a number of games left against soft defensive opponents. How many times has Miami scored 435+ points in a season?
Once (513 points). In 1984 when Dan Marino won the NFL Most Valuable Player award.
The next highest scoring output in franchise history came in 1986 when the team scored 430 points. And only one other time, in 1985, did the Dolphins even eclipse 400 points in a season. And yet over their last 10 games, Miami is scoring at a clip that would project to 446 points over 16 games. Offensive progress is clearly here — with or without young quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.