Both the Dolphins and the 49ers are off to offensive beginnings that pose a danger to records.
Together for years, Kyle Shanahan and Mike McDaniel planned strategies to undermine NFL defenses.
The two offensive coaches are now separated, McDaniel coaching Miami in his second season and Shanahan coaching San Francisco in his seventh season. Both teams are threatening records thanks to their early-season dominance.
In a number of important offensive metrics, including scoring, yards per play, success rate, passer rating, and first downs, the 49ers and Dolphins are 1-2.
Miami is the second team in NFL history to average at least 500 yards of offense a game through five games, with its 513.6 beating out the previous record of 505.4 set by the Rams in 2000.
The Dolphins are scoring 36.2 points per game for the best total at this point of the season in eight years, as defenses have had no answer for the speed of players like Tyreek Hill, De’Von Achane, Jaylen Waddle or Raheem Mostert.
Achane has been on a record-setting pace of his own, with his seven TDs in his first four games ranking second in NFL history to Bill Paschal’s eight in 1943.
Achane has rushed for 100 yards and a TD in three straight games, tied for the second-longest streak ever for a rookie since the merger behind Franco Harris’ six-game streak in 1972. He is averaging 12.1 yards per carry on the season.
After being put on injured reserve on Wednesday due to a knee ailment, Achane will have to wait a little while before he can attempt to match Harris’ record.
With eight touchdowns, Mostert leads the NFL, and the Dolphins are only the second club in history to have three players score at least five touchdowns in the first five games of a season. With Rob Gronkowski, Wes Welker, and BenJarvus Green-Ellis, New England accomplished this feat in 2011.
The Niners started 5-0 with a point differential of plus-99 or better, becoming the fourth team in the Super Bowl era to accomplish so. They have been more dominant overall. Six of the last eight teams to do it reached the Super Bowl, with the Saints (2009), Rams (1999), and Washington (1991) taking home the championship.
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Purdy has won all 10 of his regular-season starts, with his 121.1 rating in those starts the best ever through 10 starts. He has completed 70.4% of his passes — second best to Chad Pennington’s 70.8% — through 10 starts. Only Ben Roethlisberger has won more consecutive starts (15) to begin his career.
McCaffrey has TDs in 14 consecutive games in the regular season and playoffs, tied with Emmitt Smith for the fourth-longest streak ever. Only Lenny Moore (17 games), O.J. Simpson (15) and John Riggins (15) have longer streaks.
PITIFUL PATRIOTS
Bill Belichick appears to be set to eclipse the NFL coaching record for losses well before he becomes the winningest coach ever the way things are going for New England early this season.
One week after suffering his most lopsided loss in 498 career regular-season and playoff games as a head coach in a 38-3 defeat to Dallas, Belichick took his most lopsided shutout loss ever in a 34-0 defeat to New Orleans
A club lost consecutive games by that many points for just the 13th time in the Super Bowl era, with Miami being the most recent to do so in 2019.
Since the Patriots tied Dallas at three early in that Week 4 game with a field goal to knot the score, they have let up 69 straight points. The Patriots allowed 71 straight points over three games in the team’s inaugural season in 1960, which is the record for the most consecutive points allowed in franchise history.
With the two losses, Belichick now has a combined career record of 330-169-0 in both the regular season and the postseason. He needs 17 wins to tie Don Shula’s record, while he needs nine losses to tie Tom Landry.
OUTSTANDING MAHOMES
This week, Mahomes gets to play Denver, his favorite foe, as he attempts to extend his perfect record against them to 12-0. Otto Graham, who went 12-0 in his career against the Cardinals, is the only quarterback since at least 1950 to remain unbeaten against a team with more starts than Mahomes has against the Broncos.
Overall, Kansas City has defeated Denver in 15 straight games, which is tied for the fourth-longest winning run against a rival in a regular season. Miami defeated Buffalo in a 20-game winning streak in the 1970s, San Francisco defeated the Rams 17 times in a row in the 1990s, and Washington defeated Detroit 16 times in a row from 1968 to 1997.
This season, Sam Howell and Daniel Jones have spent much too much time on their backs.
Jones is only one behind Howell at 29 for the Giants after being sacked six times against Miami, while Howell has been sacked an NFL-worst 29 times for Washington after absorbing five more last week.
Both are barely keeping up with David Carr’s record-breaking pace. On his route to an NFL-record 76 sacks for the season as a rookie in 2002 with the newly formed Texans, Carr was sacked 31 times in the first five games.
Howell and Jones were sacked more times in the first five games than any other quarterback since the merger in 2005, when Carr was sacked 30 times for Houston.
