[jwplayer qLoEf0nU-ThvAeFxT]
The 2020 Miami Dolphins are averaging 25.4 points per game this season and have tallied 330 total points scored in their first three games of the season. That number is notably high based on recent history of the franchise, although you wouldn’t know it with all of the malice for Dolphins play caller Chan Gailey on game days this season. Sure, Miami’s defense and special teams have chipped into the scoring effort and have boosted that average, but at the end of the day, Miami’s offense is the best version of itself that we’ve seen in quite some time.
Over the past 20 seasons, only six Dolphins franchises have scored more points in a season than the 2020 Dolphins:
- 2016: 363 points
- 2014: 388 points
- 2009: 360 points
- 2008: 345 points
- 2002: 378 points
- 2001: 344 points
And while each of these versions of the team have scored more points than Miami has this season, the 2020 Dolphins still have three football games left to be played, including one against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders are averaging 30.1 points per game allowed this season. Needless to say, the Dolphins are playing winning football this season in large part because they’re finding ways to score points. It doesn’t matter whether that comes from special teams, short fields courtesy of turnovers or sustained offensive drives.
You win games by scoring more points than your opponent each week. And the Dolphins are scoring at one of the most brisk paces we’ve seen this millennium. And when you add in the handcuffs Miami’s offense does operate with at times due to inexperience and injuries, it is pretty surreal to think that the Dolphins are this close to their best showing offensively in thirty four years (Miami scored 430 points in 1986).
There’s certainly room for improvement with Miami’s offensive efforts. And that’s perhaps what makes the growth of the team in year two of the Brian Flores regime so exciting to think about. How Miami finishes this season will go a long way in determining the momentum they carry into 2021. But we can already rest easy knowing that the progress is secured. The 2020 Dolphins have scored more points in 13 games than each of the last three Miami Dolphins teams (and eight of the last ten) have in 16.