NFL Week 3 Winners and Losers: Miami Dolphins Score 70 Points in Big Win

There may not be a more clear "winner" over the rest of the 2023 NFL season than the Miami Dolphins in Week 3.

The Dolphins scored 70—yes, 70—points in their win over the Denver Broncos, only two points shy of the NFL's regular-season record set in 1966. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw for 309 yards and four scores. Running backs De'Von Achane and Raheem Mostert combined for eight touchdowns. Head coach Mike McDaniel, a former Broncos ball boy, called an offense that gained 726 yards on the day.

And Broncos fans thought the Nathaniel Hackett era was bad.

Here's a look at the winners and losers from Sunday, including a deeper dive on the Dolphins.

Winners: Dolphins on Record-Setting Day

Hold on, the Dolphins may have just scored again.

Jokes aside, Miami set or tied 13 team or individual records in their 70-20 win. The Dolphins are also the first team in league history to score five passing touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns in the same game. Miami's offense—currently the league's best—prioritizes speed, and Tyreek Hill, Mostert, and the rest of the team have demonstrated that this season.

Through three weeks, the Dolphins offense is averaging a league-best 8.4 yards per play. Miami has the most yards through three games of any NFL offense ever, and the second-most points off all-time using that same criteria, per The Ringer. The Dolphins are drawing several comparisons to the "Greatest Show on Turf" Rams teams of the late '90s and early 2000s.

That might not be a stretch.

"Shame on us if we put a ceiling on what we're capable of," McDaniel said after the game.

Losers: Raiders After Bizarre Decision

The Las Vegas Raiders trailed the Pittsburgh Steelers by eight points with two minutes and 22 seconds remaining in regulation Sunday night. Facing a fourth-and-four from Pittsburgh's 8-yard line, head coach Josh McDaniels opted to kick a field goal rather than keep the offense on the field.

Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson knocked in a 26-yarder. Las Vegas trailed by five.

Carlson had converted on another field goal less than a minute of game time earlier, but McDaniels sent his offense back out after a Steelers penalty. In all, the Raiders got the same result—a field goal to cut it to a five-point deficit—but cut into the clock. After the game, McDaniels was questioned on his decision to tack on three points rather than trying to score a touchdown and tie the game up with an ensuing two-point conversion.

"You have two choices there," McDaniels said. "You try to make it a five-point game where you have an opportunity to win it with a touchdown if you get the ball back. Or you try to go for it there, and if you happen to convert you have to make the two-point conversion, all the rest of it. So, those are the decisions you've got to make. I thought we did a decent job putting ourselves in third down there the next series with the defense to try to have a play to get off the field, and we just didn't handle that play very well."

The Raiders did get the ball back, but quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo threw this third interception of the night on the first play of the team's final drive. The Steelers won, 23-18.

NFL's Next Gen Stats noted that the Raiders' win probability dropped by 5.4 percent when McDaniels opted for a field goal rather than rolling the dice on fourth down. The second-year Raiders head coach could learn a thing or two about playing the odds in Vegas.

Winners: Former Eagles Coordinators

Jonathan Gannon and Shane Steichen both earned head coaching jobs after spending last season as coordinators with the Philadelphia Eagles. Week 3 showed promising signs for both of them early in their head coaching tenures.

Steichen's Indianapolis Colts went on the road and knocked off the previously unbeaten Baltimore Ravens in overtime, 22-19. The Colts were without starting quarterback Anthony Richardson and trailed with less than a minute remaining in regulation. Still, the Colts found a way to leave Baltimore 2-1 after an upset win.

Meanwhile, Gannon earned his first career coaching victory on Sunday. And it was a stunning one. The Arizona Cardinals entered Week 3 as double-digit underdogs against the Dallas Cowboys. But the Cardinals tallied 400 yards of offense, frustrated Dallas in the Red Zone, and upset the Cowboys, 28-16.

Losers: Hype Surrounding Dallas Cowboys

The daunting Dallas defense entered Week 3 leading the league in points allowed, yards allowed, turnovers forced, sack rate, yards per play allowed, and the list goes on. Losing Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs to an injury in practice last week was certainly going to dampen some of that dominance.

But to lose and give up 28 points to the Cardinals? That may be the surprise of the weekend.

Dallas was rising up NFL power rankings around the league after outscoring its opponents 70-10 through two weeks. Losing to a team widely considered to be one of the worst in the league is a good way to hit pause on the Super Bowl hype.

"That's the challenge of this league, you know, every game is so unique to the specific matchups and so forth," Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said postgame. "This has been a rough week on a lot of fronts. I think the amount of adversity you go through, your preparation process, and we didn't have enough today. The disciple and the penalties. We have to learn from this. It's going to be an every-week challenge."

Winners: Matt LaFleur, Packers Going for Two

The analytics crowd has got to be loving Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur.

Green Bay scored a touchdown with just under seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter on Sunday after trailing by 14 points. Instead of kicking the extra point, LaFleur opted to go for two.

Why is that? With a successful conversion, the Packers would only trail by six, meaning an ensuing touchdown and successful PAT attempt would give them the lead. And even if the two-point try didn't succeed, it would still be a one-possession game. But the Packers didn't have to worry about that.

Quarterback Jordan Love found Samori Toure for a successful conversion, then threw a go-ahead touchdown with 2:56 remaining in an 18-17 win over the New Orleans Saints. The Packers are now 2-1 on the season despite trailing the Saints 17-0 entering the fourth quarter.

Losers: Vikings Keep Turning It Over

The Minnesota Vikings set an NFL record last season by going 11-0 in one-score games. Those good times appear to be over.

The Vikings dropped to 0-3 with a 28-24 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. Minnesota has lost all three of its games to start the 2023 season by six points or less. And at least a couple of those losses might have been self-inflicted. The Vikings have an NFL-leading seven fumbles, including one against the Chargers, already this season and have lost all of them. Quarterback Kirk Cousins also threw an interception, giving Minnesota an NFL-worst minus-seven turnover ratio this season.

Minnesota won the NFC North a season ago. Despite parting with several key veterans in the offseason, expectations were still high for the Vikings. But if the team's sloppy play to start this season is any indication, maybe it's time for the Vikings to start over.

Winners: Cleveland's Dominant Defense

Jim Schwartz's tenure as the Cleveland Browns' defensive coordinator is off to a good start.

The Browns defeated the Tennessee Titans, 27-3, in Week 3 to improve to 2-1. Cleveland held Tennessee to 94 yards and six first downs. The Browns sacked quarterback Ryan Tannehill five times and forced three total fumbles on the day. Through three weeks, the Browns are allowing only 10.7 points per game, the best in the NFL.

Somehow, Cleveland has not surrendered any points in the Red Zone this season, becoming the first team since 1978 to accomplish that through three weeks of the season. The Browns have allowed 491 yards so far, the third-fewest through three games since 1970. Three-time Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt knows good defense when he sees it and is impressed by the Browns so far this season.

Losers: Commanders Offense Against Bills

Washington Commanders quarterback Sam Howell's performances the last two weeks are a good example of how quickly things can change in the NFL.

Howell was coming off the best performance of his young NFL career ahead of Week 3's matchup with the Buffalo Bills. The second-year signal-caller just threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns in a win that moved Washington to 2-0 on the season. Well, now he's coming off of his worst performance. The Bills' defense picked off Howell four times, returning one interception for a touchdown, and defeated the Commanders, 37-3.

Not that this is all on Howell. The Bills dominated up front and recorded nine sacks and 15 QB hits on the day. And as a team, Washington converted only one of nine third-down attempts.

But Howell knows he's going to take most of the blame. And that's the way he wants it.

"It starts with me," Howell said repeatedly during his postgame press conference. "But the good thing is: The sun'll come up tomorrow."

Winner: Texans Drafting C.J. Stroud

The Houston Texans selected quarterback C.J. Stroud with the No. 2 pick in this year's NFL Draft. After an upset 37-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, the Texans are certainly feeling confident about that selection.

Stroud threw for 280 yards and two touchdowns in his third-career start. That production comes after throwing for 384 yards in Week 2, which was the second-most by a player 21 or younger since 1970. The former Ohio State standout is the first QB in league history to have at least 900 passing yards, four touchdowns, and zero interceptions in his first three starts, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

Sunday's win marked the first of the season for the Texans, and his teammates seem to think it's the first of many to come with Stroud under center.

"We drafted the right guy," Texans tight end Brevin Jordan told ESPN Sunday. "Man, he's a leader. He's a phenomenal player and a phenomenal guy with God-given talent. Dude, he's unbelievable."

Losers: Chicago Bears Lose 13th in a Row

Where to start with the Chicago Bears?

The team dropped to 0-3 with a 41-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The result was not an unexpected one against the reigning Super Bowl Champions, but the final score may not accurately reflect how poorly Chicago played.

The Bears trailed 41-0 nothing midway through the third quarter, right around when the Chiefs put their backups in. Quarterback Justin Fields completed half of his passes for 99 yards, an interception, and a late touchdown. Chicago has given up 106 points this season, the second-most through three weeks in the team's history that dates back over a century.

Chicago is 0-3 for the first time since 2016. The team's 13-game losing streak dating back to last season is the longest in the NFL.

"We just got our ass kicked," tight end Cole Kmet said after the game, via ESPN. "That's probably No. 1. I can't think of a game I've had in a long time that looked like that."