MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Welcome to the NFL's most dubious 70-700 club, 2023 Denver Broncos.
Sorry, no one was there to welcome you. You're the only member.
Until the Denver defense got sliced, diced, gashed and bombarded by Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, Raheem Mostert, De'Von Achane and the Miami Dolphins, 70-20 here Sunday on a sauna-like hot and humid late-September Sunday afternoon at Hard Rock Stadium, no team had ever surrendered at least 70 points and 700 yards in the same game.
History was made here Sunday when the Dolphins scored the second-most points in NFL history -- the 1966 Washington team beat the New York Giants, 72-41 -- while Miami did set a league record by compiling 726 yards in total offense.
"Frustrating. Embarrassing,'' said Broncos safety Kareem Jackson. "We came in with a plan, we didn’t execute nothing we put in place. Nothing, from the top guy to the last guy. When you play these good teams and you don’t execute that’s what happens, they hang 70 on you.’’
There is some historical dispute about how many yards the 1951 Los Angeles Rams recorded in their season opener against the New York Yanks. Pro Football Reference says the Rams had 722 yards, which means the Dolphins set the record. Stats Inc. says the Rams did even better, piling up 735 yards which means the Dolphins had the second-most productive day.
It is believed the Pro Football Reference yardage is the apples to apples accurate total so congratulations, Denver defense. You're the worst.
“Embarrassed, pissed,'' said Denver inside linebacker Alex Singleton. "We're not happy. It was the most embarrassing game I’ve ever been a part of. It’s the most embarrassing game I’ve ever watched.''
With star safety Justin Simmons out with injury, and the opposing Dolphins featuring the top impactful offensive player who doesn’t play quarterback in the NFL, the Broncos’ biggest fear coming into the game was obvious.
It took three plays for Tyreek Hill to be realized.
Hill somehow got wide open against a busted Denver coverage and scored on a 54-yard catch-and-run pass from Tagovailoa just 83 seconds into the game. Hill finished with 9 catches for 157 yards. Delarrin Turner-Yell, who started in place of the injured Simmons, took blame for the play.
“I got a little nosey,'' Turner-Yell said. "Tua pumped like he was going to the dig (in-route over the linebacker), I go to the dig and you saw the end result. I’ve got to be smarter than that.”
The touchdown was set up the play before. Dolphins tight end Durham Smythe caught a 15-yard crossing route past inside linebacker Alex Singleton and in front of Turner-Yell, who came up to make the tackle. On the next play, when Hill sped past the wall of linebackers, Turner-Yell had moved up to cover receiver Robbie Chosen across the middle. Hill was alone in the spot Turner-Yell vacated.
The Dolphins scored touchdowns again on their second and third series, and fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, too, and then the backups scored on the team's11th and 12th series.
To think, the Broncos got a 99-yard kickoff touchdown return from rookie Marvin Mims Jr. and still lost by 50 -- the most lopsided defeat in the 64-year history of the franchise.
"Obviously, that was embarrassing and tough to watch,'' said Broncos' head coach Sean Payton.
He then promised to issue severe punishment upon his players and coaching staff.
"It would be one thing to say, hey, we're going to get on to the next game, but we have to watch that tape,'' Payton said. "And so (Monday) will be tough for a lot of players, tough for us, too, as coaches.''
The humiliation stops first at Payton's desk as he's the head coach, and then defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, whose defense gave up 35 points the previous week to a Washington team that was nearly shut out at home Sunday by Buffalo.
And then there's the players. Make no mistake, the Broncos' defense looked two steps slow against the speedy Dolphins.
“You guys saw those guys got to the edge fast,'' Singleton said. "They’re fast."
“I know we didn’t tackle well,'' said Denver defensive tackle Zach Allen. "That’s one thing I can go off of. It’s hard to assess what just happened so soon after the game especially when you lose but one thing I did notice that I can take away is we just haven’t been tackling the last week couple weeks, which you can’t do against a good team.”
Still, losing by 50 points perhaps speaks to a systemic problem within the program that appears headed for a seventh consecutive losing season now that it's started this one 0-3.
:"I'm tired of losing, man,'' said left tackle Garett Bolles. "I've been here 7 years and all I've done is lost."
The Dolphins scored any way they pleased. They scored 35 points in the first half and 35 in the second half. They scored five touchdowns passing and five touchdowns rushing. And it could have been worse. Needing merely a field goal to the set the single-game scoring record with 73 points near game's end, Miami coach Mike McDaniel took a knee deep in Denver territory to turn the ball over on downs.
"It felt like chasing points and chasing a record – that’s not what we came to the game to do,'' McDaniel said. "That doesn’t have a bearing on the overall season outcome, and I just didn’t — I saw it as 10 times out of 10, you concede and kneel down in those situations because there was an attainable record that was cool, but the message that I thought it would send wasn’t really in line with how I view things.''
History would have forgiven McDaniel had he sent in Jason Sanders for a 45-yard field goal attempt with 30 seconds left. When Washington put 72 up on the Giants in 1966? Washington head coach Otto Graham had Charlie Gogolak kick a 29-yard field goal late in the game for points 70, 71 and 72.
But don't McDaniel too much credit for honorable sportsmanship. Backups or not, the Dolphins didn't have to call for No. 2 quarterback Mike White to heave a 68-yard deep pass to Robbie Chosen (formerly Robbie Anderson, who torched Bradley Roby in a 2018 game at the Meadowlands) midway through the fourth quarter to turn a 56-13 lead into 63-13.
And rookie tailback De'Von Achane, who sprinted past Denver defenders all day, was still in the game with 8 minutes remaining when he capped off his great performance with a 67-yard touchdown run to bring it to 70.
Everybody knew the Denver defense was in trouble after it surrendered 35 points to Sam Howell and Washington last week at home. A week later, Washington was nearly shut out at home before getting a meaningless field goal in the final seconds in a 37-3 loss to Buffalo.
The Broncos gave up 35 points in the first half for the first time since 2010 when they fell behind the Oakland Raiders, 38-0 and lost 59-14. Denver gave up 70 points in a game for the first time in its 64-season history.
"We knew we were playing a really good offense,'' said Payton, who didn't think the Dolphins were disrespectfully running up the score. "But we’ve got to look closely at what we were doing. When someone runs the ball up and down the field like those guys did, throw it up and down the field (pause) it's not acceptable. We can't -- well, we just got to get to the tape.''
With McDaniel, a former Smoky Hill High School product calling offensive plays along with his duties as the Dolphins’ head coach, Denver’s defense seemed two steps slow against the precision passing of Tagovailoa and the famed Shanahan-family zone running system. McDaniel was raised as an offensive coach, first by Mike Shanahan two decades ago, and then by Kyle Shanahan for the better than a decade.
Broncos fans know what a strong running game looks like from the Mike Shanahan years. And Miami has it. Tagovailoa was 16 of 16 for 206 yards and two touchdowns by halftime. Besides the 54-yard strike to Hill, Tagovailoa flipped a no-look, back-handed shovel pass to Achane for a 4-yard touchdown with 10:16 left in the first half.
Tua finished 23 of 26 for 309 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Achane (203 yards on 18 carries with touchdowns of 8 and 67 yards) and Raheem Mostert (82 yards on 13 carries with touchdown runs of 20, 3 and 1 yards) combined for 285 yards rushing on 31 carries and five touchdowns – 9.2 yards per carry.
And it became more than 350 yards rushing when No. 3 running back Chris Brooks mopped up the fourth quarter with 66 yards on 9 carries.
Achane (4 catches, 30 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Mostert (7 catches, 60 yards, 1 TD) also combined for 10 catches, 91, and 3 more receiving touchdowns.
What a nightmare.
That wouldn't end.
White's deep ball to Chosen, a veteran called up from the practice squad to replace the injured Jaylen Waddle, beat Pat Surtain II, the Broncos' All Pro cornerback.
Did Surtain lose focus with the game out of hand?
"No, that’s just bad execution by me,'' Surtain II said. "I just have to stay deep and lock on my guy. There’s no excuses for that. In that situation, I had to lock in and make a play, and I didn’t.”
Admirable accountability following a disastrous overall defensive performance.
The Dolphins, who led the NFL with 462.5 yards in total offense coming into the game, had 726 offensive yards midway through the fourth quarter against the porous Denver D. To repeat, 70 points and 726 yards.
The Broncos made it interesting for a couple minutes in the first half after falling behind 14-0. Russell Wilson, the team's quarterback. continued his terrific first-half play by finishing a pass-heavy drive with a scramble and 12-yard touchdown throw to Courtland Sutton. Another touchdown pass to Sutton on the next drive was nullified by a penalty called on fellow receiver Brandon Johnson, who made too much contact on a pick play and was flagged for offensive pass interference. The Broncos settled for a short, Wil Lutz field goal bringing the score to 21-10.
It was so easy for the Dolphins as they scored 21 points on three touchdowns off their first three series, the game had a chance to turn when McDaniel got a little overconfident on their fourth series. Rushing for 8 yards on first down, Miami only netted 1 yard on their next two rushing attempts. With the ball an inch shy of their own 35-yard line, McDaniel went for it on fourth down.
His fullback, Alex Ingold, was stopped behind the line by Broncos’ defensive tackle Zach Allen.
The Broncos, trailing 21-10, took over at the Dolphins’ 33 with less than 5 minutes remaining in the half. The potential turning point was bungled, however, when the Broncos started the series with a motion penalty and 3-yard loss and wound up punting from the Dolphins side of the field. The idea was to pin Miami deep, and get the ball back before the half.
But the Dolphins offense behind Tagovailoa's passing and Achane/Mostert running was too much for an an uninspired Denver defense. The Dolphins went 86 yards in just 1 minute, 20 seconds, a drive finished with a 20-yard sprint to the end zone by Mostert.
A fumble by Sutton early in the Broncos' next possession was returned to the 3-yard line, where Mostert scored again and the rout continued.
Wilson was the best player the Broncos had going for them. He finished the first half with 16 of 24 passing for 193 yards and a touchdown.
But the Dolphins poured it on in the second half, scoring three unanswered touchdowns while Sutton lost his second fumble and Wilson had a pass tipped at the line for an interception.
"Disappointed, frustrated, mostly with myself, trying to do too much,'' said Sutton, who led the Broncos with 8 catches for 91 yards. "Can’t put the ball on the ground, it’s unacceptable."
Mims returned one of the many Miami kickoffs 99 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. At the time, Mims narrowed the Broncos' deficit from 63-13 to 63-20. Miami and Achane would get one more big play to finish off the worst defensive performance in Broncos' history.
Bronco Bits
Starting inside linebacker Josey Jewell suffered a groin injury in the first half and did not return. ...
McDaniel started emptying his bench early in the fourth quarter. ...
Drew Sanders, a rookie listed as a third outside linebacker, made his first start. Rookie defensive back Riley Moss was active for his first NFL game.
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