Miami Dolphins Schedule Outlook and Flex Possibilities
The Miami Dolphins already have appeared in prime time twice season, and at this point it would be a major surprise if they didn’t have a third night game — though we won’t know for sure for a while.
The Dolphins’ Week 15 game against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium is among five designated before the season at TBD for either Saturday, Dec. 17 or Sunday, Dec. 18, and at this point it’s easily the most attractive of the matchups. The NFL will take three of the five matchups and put them in three Saturday slots — 1 p.m., 4:15 and 8:30 p.m.
The NFL will announce the Week 15 schedule at the conclusion of Week 13 — the Dolphins play at San Francisco on Dec. 4.
Along with Miami at Buffalo, the other games not yet scheduled in Week 15 are Baltimore and Cleveland, Indianapolis at Minnesota, Atlanta at New Orleans, and the New York Giants at Washington.
At this time, by record alone, the Dolphins-Bills matchup sure looks like the best one, considering it’s the only one that features two teams currently with a winning record. And then if you factor in the national appeal of Josh Allen and the emerging national appeal of the Dolphins’ high-flying passing game with Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, and you have a very strong leading candidate for that game.
Playing at Buffalo on Saturday night, Dec. 17, would be quite the challenge for the Dolphins, not only because of the potential weather conditions but also because that game wraps up a three-game road trip and comes on a short week after the game at San Francisco.
Another possibility is for the Dolphins-Bills game to be flexed out to the Sunday night spot in place of the currently scheduled New England at Las Vegas.
The Patriots aren’t typically a team that gets flexed out, but the Raiders season is going up in flames and the NFL might decide Miami-Buffalo is a much more desirable matchup that will attract more viewers.
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THE DOLPHINS AND OTHER SUNDAY NIGHTS
With the Dolphins at 6-3 and looking at the very real possibility of being 8-3 by the end of November with games against the Browns and Texans ahead, they sure would seem like a good team that would be appealing for Sunday Night Football down the stretch.
But it’s not quite that simple.
In Week 13, the Dolphins have that game at San Francisco, which should be very appealing with the quality of the teams and the Mike McDaniel facing the 49ers storyline … but the scheduled SNF game is Indy at Dallas, and it’s difficult (actually, borderline impossible) to see the Cowboys getting flexed out regardless of what the Colts’ record is at that time.
But we also never thought we’d see the massively popular Pittsburgh Steelers get flexed out of prime time and it’s just what happened for Week 13 when the NFL replaced their home game against Cincinnati as the Sunday night game in favor of the Kansas City Chiefs at the Los Angeles Chargers matchup. In that case, however, the NFL replaced one TV darling team (Pittsburgh) with another (Kansas City), and neither the Dolphins nor 49ers can match Dallas in terms of national television appeal.
In Week 14, the Dolphins have another juicy matchup against the Chargers at SoFi Stadium and there’s the Tua-Justin Herbert matchup on top of it … but the SNF game is Chiefs at Broncos, and are we really expecting Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to be removed from prime time?
Maybe the biggest chance for a flex could be Week 17 when the Dolphins play at New England, if the game has major playoff implications, because the scheduled Sunday night game is Rams at Chargers, and that game could be moved out of prime time if there are no playoff implications.
As a reminder, the Sunday night game for Week 18 will be set after Week 17 and will be dependent upon playoff ramifications, and those could come into play for the Dolphins finale against the New York Jets at Hard Rock Stadium considering both teams are 5-3 after eight games.
In a new twist this season, in addition to the traditional season-ending Sunday night game, the NFL will pull out two more games and schedule them for Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET and 8:15 p.m. ET.
It also should be noted there will be no flexing of the schedule in Week 16. That’s Christmas weekend, and the Dolphins will face the Green Bay Packers at Hard Rock Stadium at 1 p.m. as one of three games on Dec. 25.
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