The Miami Dolphins finished their 2023 season at 11-6, second place in the AFC East and the conference’s No. 6 seed heading into the playoffs.
While the Week 18 Sunday Night Football loss to the Buffalo Bills was demoralizing and cost the Dolphins a division title, they’re still heading to the postseason for the second straight season under Mike McDaniel, his first two as head coach.
Throughout a year of ups and downs, and injuries in nearly every position room, the Dolphins were able to put together several impressive achievements both as a team and as individuals.
Many Dolphins had career years in 2023, and some even went ballistic with statistics.
Dolphins Defense led by duo of defensive tackles
- Despite the loss to the Bills, the Dolphins had three takeaways on Sunday, which made it the fifth time this season they’ve had at least three takeaways in a game.
- Miami will head to the playoffs and Kansas City with an 11-game takeaway streak, which is the longest active streak in the league. No other unit has a streak longer than six games. This is the longest such streak by the Dolphins since the 2020 season when they had takeaways in 13 consecutive contests.
- The Dolphins recorded at least one sack in all 17 games this season and got three more against Buffalo. Melvin Ingram had a fine game as a recent returnee to Miami with 1.5 sacks. Christian Wilkins got one with a forced fumble and a recovery to boot while Zach Sieler recorded a half-sack.
- Sieler is the first defensive tackle in team history to record 10.0 sacks in a season. He now has a sack in six of his past seven games and four in a row. Wilkins and his nine sacks are the second-most in Dolphins history for a defensive tackle.
- Ingram was the 12th member of Miami’s defense to record a sack this season.
Tua Tagovailoa is the NFL's passing leader; Tyreek Hill is the receiving leader
- Tagovailoa finished the 2023 season with 4,624 passing yards, which led the league.
- He also finished with a 101.1 passer rating. He and San Francisco’s Brock Purdy are the only two quarterbacks with a passer rating of at least 100 in each of the past two seasons.
- Hill had 82 yards against the Bills, bringing him to 1,799 for the season. This mark led the NFL and made Hill the first Dolphin to ever lead the league in receiving yards in a full season.
- He also set a franchise record and his 2023 season now ranks as the seventh-best in NFL history in receiving yards.
Miami offense most prolific in decades
- After the team rushed for 108 yards against the Bills in Week 18, the Dolphins have finished the season with 2,308 rushing yards. It’s the first time since 2002 that Miami has rushed for more than 2,300 yards in a season. The only other times they accomplished this in team history occurred in the 1970s.
- The Dolphins finished the 2023 season averaging 5.06 yards per carry, which broke the team record of 5.0 set in 1971.
- Miami ranked first in total offense in 2023 (401.3 yards per game). This is the first time since 1994 that they’ve accomplished this feat when they recorded 379.9 yards per game. This is just the second time in team history that they’ve averaged over 400 yards in a full season (433.5 yards per game in 1984).
- The Dolphins finished as the league’s top passing offense, averaging 265.5 yards per game. It’s the first time since 1993 that the team ranked first in passing (averaged 272.1 per game that season).
