This 2020 season has been littered with “first time in a long time” moments for the Miami Dolphins. Miami helped bounce New England from the playoffs for the first time since 2008. The Dolphins have a winning season for the first time since 2016. A 100-yard rusher for the first time since 2018. And while there’s plenty more, the Dolphins have one of the most enticing “first time in a long time” opportunities awaiting them over the final two weeks of the season.
The Dolphins will enter Week 16 of the season with the NFL’s No. 1 scoring defense, having allowed just 257 points over 14 games. That number is the best in the league by a touchdown; leading the Pittsburgh Steelers’ fearsome defense.
When is the last time the Dolphins laid claim to the league’s defensive scoring champs?
You have to win the clock all the way back to the year 1998. That year, the Dolphins conceded 265 total points on the year and finished the season with a 10-6 record. These 2020 Dolphins are within a game of equalling the win total of that 1998 squad, although it is likely we’ll see the ’20 team give up a touch more in points — especially when considering the final two opponents on the schedule.
The Las Vegas Raiders score an average of 26.9 points per game, where the Bills are averaging an impressive 29.1 points per game (and already dropped 31 on Miami in Week 22). But this race for the No. 1 scoring defense isn’t about trying to outlast the 1998 Dolphins, it is about trying to outperform the Pittsburgh Steelers over the course of the final two weeks of the season. Pittsburgh’s schedule isn’t necessarily easier; they play the Indianapolis Colts and the Cleveland Browns over the final two weeks of the regular season. And based on how poor Pittsburgh’s offense has played as of late, there may be a ripe opportunity for the Dolphins to concede less points. Only a handful of other teams are even remotely close to Miami’s 257 point total — one to watch is the Los Angeles Rams (269 points).
The Rams close with the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals, which should provide enough punch to keep Miami’s scoring defense ahead of them come the end of the season. It feels like forever ago that the Dolphins defense was as resistant as a wet paper towel (they conceded a franchise record 494 points in 2019). But that rapid turnaround is just the latest testament to the job Brian Flores, Chris Grier and company have done with this Dolphins rebuild.