Take a bow, Mike McDaniel, for taking a knee.
Miami's coach decided to forgo a field goal that would have allowed the Dolphins to break Washington's record 72-point game set in 1966 against the Giants. Instead, he had his offense go into victory formation on fourth down at the Denver 27 in the final minute of their 70-20 shellacking of the Broncos on Sunday.
McDaniel's magnanimous gesture allowed the Broncos to avoid infamy to go with the insult of becoming the first team to surrender 350 yards and five touchdowns both passing and rushing in the same game.
MIAMI DOLPHINS
Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.
“It would have been cool,” McDaniel said of scoring more points than anyone in the 104-year history of the NFL. “But ... that's not really what I’m about. I will be fine getting second-guessed by turning down NFL records. That’s fine.”
Fins fans wanted the record, loudly voicing their displeasure that the Dolphins didn't match the all-time NFL record established by the Chicago Bears in their 73-0 wipeout of Washington in the 1940 championship.
“I’m very OK with the decision, and I think the team, notably the leaders of the team supported it, the captains supported it,” McDaniel said. “It’s not the way you want to get the record. I would hope that if the shoe was on the other foot, the opponent would feel the same way. That’s called karma. I’m trying to keep good karma with the Miami Dolphins.”
Tua Tagovailoa sure has McDaniel's back.
“I think in this league and around the league, it’s about respect in the NFL,” Tagovailoa said. “As we went out there, I feel like that’s what we got. We got respect — and we’re not trying to go out there and humiliate teams. That’s just what it happened to look like. Trying to run the ball, trying to kill some time, big plays opened up and that’s what it looked like.”
Denver's defense allowed 10 touchdowns and only McDaniel's gesture kept the score from being even worse.
“I think that it was very professional,” said his running back Raheem Mostert.
