Dolphins Demolish Denver in Home Opener

The Miami Dolphins set a franchise record for points in a game while improving to 3-0 with their rout of the Denver Broncos

Wow!

That's all there is to say about the absurd show the Miami Dolphins put on in their home opener.

The Dolphins improved to 3-0 for a second consecutive season when they set a franchise record for points in a game in a 70-20 victory against the Denver Broncos.

The Dolphins offense continued its early-season rampage, scoring touchdowns on eight of their first nine possessions (excluding the one play at the first half.

Tua Tagovailoa did nothing to lose his status as the early-season MVP front-runner, as he completed 23 of 26 passes for 309 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions for a 155.8 passer rating. He completed his first 17 passes, coming within one shy of Ryan Tannehill's record for most completions at the start of a game.

Tua was just one of the many stars on offense, though.

Rookie running back De'Von Achane made the most of his opportunity in the absence of Salvon Ahmed, rushing for 203 yards and two touchdowns and adding two receiving touchdowns. His second touchdown was a 67-yarder in the fourth quarter for Miami's final points.

Raheem Mostert followed up his 121-yard rushing performance against New England by scoring four touchdowns on 142 total yards — three on the ground and one on a screen pass.

And, of course, Tyreek Hill was Tyreek Hill, caching nine passes for 157 yards and a 54-yard touchdown.

For good measure, Mike White threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Robbie Chosen after he came in for Tua with the game well in hand in the fourth quarter.

Rookie running back Chris Brooks then had a 52-yard run in the fourth quarter to push the offensive yardage gained over 700. The Dolphins ended up finishing with 726 total yards, the second-most in NFL history, and they passed up a chance to set the record for most points in a game, which is 72.

The Dolphins became the first team in NFL history with five rushing touchdowns and five passing touchdowns in the same game.

The defense chipped in as well, coming up with three takeaways, fumble recoveries by Andrew Van Ginkel and Kader Kohou after Jevon Holland forced each of them, and an inerception by Emmanuel Ogbah after a Russell Wilson bounced off the hands of Da'Shawn Hand at the line of scrimmage.

Ogbah had a sack of Russell Wilson in the fourth quarter.

INJURIES PILING UP

The Dolphins welcomed back Pro Bowl tackle Terron Armstead for this game as he made his season debut, and Jaelan Phillips also returned after missing the Sunday night victory against the New England Patriots.

But Phillips didn't get to finish the game because he sustained an oblique injury late in the first half.

The Dolphins also lost wide receiver River Cracraft (shoulder) and center Connor Williams (groin) during the game after coming in without wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (concussion) along with Ahmed.

The injuries were about the only things that didn't go well for the Dolphins, though there was a 99-yard kickoff return allowed to rookie Marvin Mims Jr., though that one came with the score 63-13.

GAME OVER EARLY

The Dolphins needed all of three plays after getting the ball to take a lead they would never relinquish.

Even a failed fourth-down conversion at their own 34 was going to be an issue for the Dolphins on this day because everything worked.

The Dolphins finished with 726 total yards, topping the 536 they put up against the Chargers — doing this against former Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.

The Dolphins had three scoring plays of 50 yards or more, two of them in the fourth quarter.

But they were just insanely efficient from start to finish and the Denver defense never had any answers.

The victory kept the Dolphins atop the AFC East at 3-0 and set up the showdown next Sunday at Buffalo against the Bills, who had an impressive 37-3 victory at Washington to move to 2-1.