Apart from taking part in on pure grass and in an open-air stadium below the South Florida solar, the Miami Dolphins are taking us again to Y2K with recollections of the St. Louis Rams lighting up scoreboards throughout the NFL — and filling fantasy managers with so many factors and massive victories.
This comparability got here up in the course of the second half of Sunday’s 31-16 victory over the Giants at Exhausting Rock Stadium. Up till this recreation, the 2000 Rams had the document for many yards via 5 video games of the season with 2,527. This yr’s Dolphins eclipsed that mark and upped it to 2,568 by the top of the sport.
That 1999 Rams staff was piloted by future Corridor of Famer Kurt Warner, who burst out of nowhere the earlier yr as a preseason damage substitute and would go on to move for 4,353 yards and 41 touchdowns to tempo all fantasy quarterbacks. In 2000, Warner had a extra pedestrian 3,429 passing yards and 21 touchdowns, but nonetheless completed because the QB13.
The twin-threat out of the backfield was one other future Corridor of Famer, Marshall Faulk, who set a then-NFL document with 26 touchdowns, together with 2,189 whole yards. His 379 factors had been a runaway for RB1 standing.
Catching Warner’s passes had been a pair electrifying broad receivers in Isaac Bruce (1,471 yards and 9 touchdowns — WR6) and Torry Holt (1,635/6 — WR7). Bruce is in Canton, and Holt was a finalist this yr.
That is the corporate the Dolphins are maintaining.
On the helm of the Dolphins is Tua Tagovailoa, who has distanced himself from offseason damage considerations to take his recreation and this offense to a degree that has it lapping the sphere with a league-leading 181 factors. After shredding the Giants for 308 yards and a pair of touchdowns, Tagovailoa now has three video games with 300-plus yards and a number of touchdowns.
He’s on tempo to throw for five,487 yards, which might shatter Miami legend Dan Marino’s ground-breaking 5,048-yard season in 1984. Tagovailoa’s timing and precision on passes have been unbelievable, particularly on the early connection he’s had with the hyper-fast Tyreek Hill.
Hill is blazing a path in a follow-up to the 119-catch, 1,710-yard season in 2022, when he had 38 catches, 524 yards and two touchdowns via 5 video games. If nobody surpasses him in Sunday evening or Monday evening video games, Hill can have three top-three weekly finishes via the primary 5 video games.
After flying previous the Giants for eight receptions for 181 yards and a rating for WR3 standing, Hill has set a brand new tempo for himself with 36 catches, 651 yards and 5 touchdowns via 5 video games. He’s on tempo for an astounding 2,213 receiving yards. The NFL document for receiving yards in a season is Calvin Johnson’s 1,964 in 2012.
Bursting via for a 3rd straight top-five efficiency has been rookie sensation De’Von Achane. The speedster, who can provide Hill a run on the crown for quickest participant within the NFL, took 11 carries for 151 yards and a landing. Coincidentally, Achane wears the identical No. 28 as Faulk did.
Achane had 76 of these yards on a landing the place he seemed like he was shot out of a cannon. His explosive run proportion is eighteen.5%, which is a Fantasy Factors Information statistic measuring runs of 15-plus yards. Achane’s 95.8 fantasy factors over the previous three weeks would have seen him path solely Christian McCaffrey via the primary 4 weeks of the season.
Amazingly, the Dolphins have Raheem Mostert as a second working again who’s worthy of every-week beginning consideration. He has three top-10 weekly finishes (if he sticks in there in Week 5), together with his Week 3 41.70 factors on 142 whole yards and 4 touchdowns as his high-water mark. Mostert could also be turning into Robin to Achane’s Batman, however the 31-year-old veteran stays a viable starter in fantasy. He rushed 10 occasions for 65 yards and a rating on Sunday, taking part in with a heavy coronary heart besides.
Raheem Mostert performed with a heavy coronary heart at the moment: his grandfather on his mother aspect handed away yesterday.
Mostert managed his feelings for the sport and scored a TD for him. Watch the additional umph as he will get into finish zone: pic.twitter.com/XSILF6m1zt
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) October 8, 2023
Now think about what’s going to occur when Jaylen Waddle actually will get going. After consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to start out his profession — together with his 1,356 yards and eight touchdowns final yr — Waddle has 245 receiving yards on 17 receptions in 4 video games (he missed Week 3). Once more, simply image when Waddle will get again to the degrees that he’s scaled in his first two seasons.
Simply have a look at the place these Dolphins are going. They’ve already performed highway video games in Buffalo and New England, so journeys to these icy stadiums in December will wait for an additional yr. After their Week 10 bye, the Dolphins will journey to play the Commanders, Jets and Ravens within the cold-weather months of November and December. Their remaining video games are within the comforts of residence, so the setup is occurring for a season that might turn into, nicely, the Best.