Dolphins' win a rare one when outgained big

Published Oct. 15, 2012 1:04 p.m. ET

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If you thought there was something unsual about the Dolphins' 17-14 victory against the St. Louis Rams Sunday, well, that's because there was. After all, it's not every week a team can win a game despite being outgained by 270 yards.

In fact, the Dolphins came close to making team history with that game.

The Dolphins had the second-largest yardage deficit in a victory in franchise history, surpassed only by the 2009 game at New York when Miami beat the Jets 30-25 despite being outgained 378-104.

That was the Ted Ginn Jr. game, as he became the first player in NFL history to return two kickoffs 100 yards in the same quarter. Ginn's exploits helped Miami score 21 points in that third quarter despite gaining 9 yards on offense — the other score coming on a Jason Taylor fumble return.

If you think that's amazing, just consider a victory the Houston Texans recorded in their first season in 2002, when they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers despite being outgained 422-47, a whopping 375-yard deficit.

When it comes to the Dolphins, here's how unusual Sunday's victory was: It was the 31st time in team history they were outgained by 200 yards or more, but only the second time they won one of those games.

Yep, the Dolphins are now 2-29 in games when they're outgained by at least 200 yards.

Here's a further breakdown of those games:

• The Dolphins are 1-7 at home when outgained by at least 200 yards, 1-20 on the road, and 0-2 at neutral sites (Super Bowls against Washington and San Francisco).

• The Dolphins are 0-4 in the playoffs when outgained by 200 yards or more, with losses against Houston (1978 wild-card round) and Jacksonville (1999 divisional round) in addition to the two Super Bowls.

• By decade, the Dolphins have been outgained by 200 yards or more seven times since 2000 (2-5), four times in the 1990s (0-4), nine times in the 1980s, three times in the 1970s (0-3) and eight times in the franchise's first four years, 1966-69, before the arrival of Don Shula.

• Prior to Sunday, the last time the Dolphins had been outgained by 200 yards was the 2010 season finale at New England when they were outgained by 252 yards in a 38-7 loss.

• The worst yardage deficit in franchise history came in that forgettable 62-7 playoff loss at Jacksonville in the 1999 season, when the Jaguars had a 389-yard edge (522-133).

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