60 Point NFL Games In The Super Bowl Era
By Chris Lawton
We have seen some remarkable performances in the NFL season. Earlier in the year the Miami Dolphins became only the fourth team to put up 70 points in a game. Now the Las Vegas Raiders have joined the fun by posting a 63-21 win and setting a franchise scoring record.
That is remarkable enough when you consider the Raiders have now posted zero and sixty-three points in back-to back games. But it is even more remarkable when you consider there have been very few 60+ point outbursts from teams since the AFL-NFL merger. It stands out more of course because of this being the second incidence of mega high scoring in a game this season.
As a lover of the history of the game I thought it would be fun to give this a little bit of context and see where it fits in the pantheon of Super Bowl era 60+ point performances from individual teams. With that in mind, let’s take a chronological look at the games this has happened in.
26th November 1972: Giants 62 - 10 Eagles
What is it about the Giants and the Eagles? Prior to this game the Giants highest ever score came in a 56‐0 victory over the Eagles in 1933—in the first NFL game ever played by the Eagles.
As for this one, the Giants scored on their first two possessions and never looked back. They were up 38-10 at the half and added another 24 second half points while blanking Philly the rest of the way. The G Men finished with 8 touchdowns, 2 Field Goals and even missed a Field Goal along the way!
17th December 1972: Bengals 61 - 17 Oilers
Yes, for the sharp eyed amongst you, 1972 was the last NFL season where two teams scored 60+ points in a game prior to this year.
A week earlier the Bengals had been eliminated from the playoffs. They clearly took their frustrations out on this away trip to the Oilers. Most of the damage here was done in the second half as Cincy only led 16-10 at the break.
The Bengals scored 45 second-half points, including 28 in the fourth quarter with three pick sixes featuring, including 2 from cornerback Lemar Parrish.
16th September 1973: Falcons 62 - 7 Saints
This was in the heart of ‘Aints territory. The New Orleans Saints were hosting the Falcons to kick-off the 1973 season having, at that time, an all-time 20-51-4 record and following a 2-win season in 1972.
But all NFL fans start the new season with optimism, right? Not sure that lasted long at Tulane Stadium on this day.
The Saints also lost 40-3 the next week meaning they gave up over 100 points in 2 games to open the season. Amazingly they finished 5-9 which was their best season until going 8-8 in 1979.
The Falcons led 24-0 at halftime and 45-7 at the end of three quarters. The key to the Falcons victory was centred around picking off Archie Manning 5 times. Amazingly all the points came after a scoreless first quarter.
7th December 1980: Bears 61 - 7 Packers
The second oldest rivalry in the NFL saw two remarkable games in 1980. In the first one the Packers won 12-6 in overtime in the season opener as a blocked Field Goal attempt bounced back into the arms of Green Bay’s Chester Marcol who ran in the winning score. The Bears more than made up for it here with an absolute beatdown later in the season.
Overnight rain saw a soggy game in unseasonably warm weather for this one. Like the last game, this one was 0-0 after the first period. Walter Payton kicked off the scoring with a classic goal-line leap and Chicago went from there to a 28-7 halftime lead.
Two third quarter passing scores made it 41-7 after three quarters. It would top out at 61-7 and Walter Payton walked away with three touchdowns in this one.
17th November 1985: Jets 62 - 28 Buccaneers
A good comeback in this one as the Jets were 14-0 down to start with. Nobody sees the Jets against the Buccaneers as a rivalry game. However, this one was a real grudge match. Which all went back to the end of the 1984 season. At the end of that season the Buccs won 41-21 and tried two onside kicks late in the game, despite a huge lead, and even allowed the Jets to score easily to get another chance on offence? Why? They were desperately trying to get the ball in the hands of James Wilder Sr to set a rushing and receiving record.
The Jets made them pay here as QB Ken O’Brien passed for five touchdowns, including three to Mickey Shuler. After being 14-0 down the Jets were ahead 17-14 after the first period. They then outscored Tampa Bay 24-7 in the second quarter for a 41-21 halftime lead. A 78-yard pass to Al Toon was the highlight of the second half as the Jets moved onto the 62-28 win.
17th December 1989: Bengals 61 - 7 Oilers
This is the first time we have the same two teams in a game in this list. And the result was pretty much the same – but even more one sided.
Behind this game was the rivalry between the two colourful Head Coaches (Sam Wyche for the Bengals and Jerry Glanville for the Oilers).
This was a frustrating season for the Bengals. The defending AFC champions fell from a 12-4 record to 8-8 and missed the playoffs. The pressure had shown the week before when Sam Wyche had berated his own fans for snowballing the Seahawks side-line by getting on a microphone and infamously saying, “You don’t live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati.”
Now they were going into a game with two head men that openly disliked each other.
This game didn’t feature a comeback or see the teams be competitive to start with. Cincinnati put their foot to the throttle and kept it there. They made it 31-0 by the half and had 52 points in the board before Houston scored.
Where the rivalry erupted was with an onside kick at 45-0 in front, constant passing, a fake reverse, and with 30 seconds on the clock Wyche calling for a Field Goal with the Bengals already 58-7 up.
15th January 2000: Jaguars 62 - 7 Dolphins
This is not like the other games on this list, in that it was a playoff game! The 1999 season saw the Jacksonville Jaguars set the best record in the league at 14-2. Meanwhile the Dolphins finished 9-7 and snuck into the playoffs as the lowest seeded AFC team.
This was the last game of Dan Marino’s Hall of Fame career with Miami. But it is not one he, or any Fins fan would care to revisit. Meanwhile the Jags were in only their fifth season and would make their second visit to an AFC Championship game.
The Jaguars scored early with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Mark Brunell to Jimmy Smith. Marino was picked off on the very next play leading to a field goal. A few plays later, Fred Taylor broke off a 90-yard touchdown run. And then Tony Brackens returned a fumble for a touchdown. It was 24-0 in the first quarter, and it would only get more one-sided from here.
The Jags were 41-0 up when the Dolphins got on the board with 1 second on the clock in the second quarter. This game was so one sided that starting QB Mark Brunell only threw 9 times for the Jags before sitting it out. The biggest difference however was on the ground. While Miami managed 21 rushing yards in total, Jacksonville had 46 carries for 257 yards and 3 touchdowns. 21 unanswered second-half points underlined the 62-7 scoreline.
23rd October 2011: Saints 62 - 7 Colts
This game had a real air of inevitability about it. Going into the game the Colts were 0-6 and Peyton Manning was out for the season with a neck injury. In stepped Curtis Painter at quarterback. I don’t think it is unfair to Painter to say that he was always going to be outclassed by the Saints man under centre – Drew Brees.
Indianapolis would get to 0-13 before winning in 2011 while the Saints would finish 13-3 and lose in the Divisional round of the playoffs.
As for this game, the Saints started with a 21-0 barrage in the opening quarter with Drew Brees hitting Marques Colston twice and Darren Sproles once to get things going. The Saints pushed it out to 31-0 in the second quarter before the Colts got on the board with a 2-yard touchdown run, but New Orleans added another 3-points to make it 34-7 at halftime.
The third quarter began with Brees throwing two touchdown passes to Jimmy Graham from 4 and 2 yards out, increasing the lead to 48-7. Another 14 points were added in the final period, all topped off by DB Leigh Torrence returning an interception 42 yards to cap it at 62-7 for the Saints.
24th September 2023: Dolphins 70 - 20 Broncos
The Dolphins became the first team to score 5 rushing and 5 passing touchdowns in a game as all their points came on offence.
This is the highest score by a team on this list, the highest score by a team in the Super Bowl era, and the most points and NFL team has recorded for 57 years.
QB Tua Tagovailoa completed his first 17 pass attempts and had 4 touchdown tosses, whilst RB Raheem Mostert had four touchdowns in total. The Dolphins were 2 points from the NFL record 72 set by Washington in 1966. In fact, they could have gone for a Field Goal but chose not to.
Although 35-13 was dominant at the half I am not sure anyone realised it would finish this way.
14th December 2023: Raiders 63 - 21 Chargers
Coming into this game the Raiders had not scored a touchdown on their previous 19 offensive possessions!
On this Thursday Night Football game however, they erupted by scoring a touchdown on six of their eight first half possessions and going in 42-0 ahead en route to the 63-21 win.
The Raiders had positives on both sides of the ball. Aidan O’Connell threw four first half touchdowns while the D chipped in with points on a fumble return and interception return. At one point it was 63-7 so the Chargers added points when this was well and truly over.
That’s it. We are up to speed with the 60+ point outbursts from teams in the Super Bowl era. You can make your own mind up as to which was the most impressive performance and why. One thing is for sure though, in over a century of play the NFL has provided a rich tapestry of story lines. These games have only added to that. It will be fascinating to see where the next explosive performance that matches this comes from.
CHRIS LAWTON
CFL ANALYST
Chris originally started following the NFL with the ‘first wave’ of fans when it was shown on Channel 4 in the 1980’s. He has been a keen supporter of the Miami Dolphins since 1983. Chris first encountered the CFL in 2016 and instantly fell in love with the Canadian game. He has been writing about the CFL 2017. Chris has a degree in history, postgraduate degree in librarianship and can be found on twitter as @CFLfanUK