Sports

NFL Schedule Unveiled: Dolphins Face Jetlag, Unforgiving Season

The Dolphins' recently released 2023-2024 season schedule won't make it easy for the team to trek back to the playoffs, never mind their first Super Bowl since 1985.
The Dolphins' recently released 2023-2024 season schedule won't make it easy for the team to trek back to the playoffs, never mind their first Super Bowl since 1985. Photo by Tony Duffy/Getty Images
The NFL released its full schedule for the 2023 NFL season on Thursday night, and the Miami Dolphins' road itinerary is looking more like a Taylor Swift World Tour than your traditional NFL team's schedule.

According to sports wagering site Bookies.com, the Dolphins will travel enough miles — more than 27,000 in total — to fly clear around the globe and then some. The treks will include a trip to Frankfurt, Germany, on November 5 for Tyreek Hill's "homecoming" versus the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.

That's the bad news.

The good news is the NFL decided the Dolphins are a box-office attraction, slapping the 'Phins on primetime television five times this year if you count the game in Germany and a Black Friday standalone match-up against Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets.

Miami Dolphins 2023 Schedule

The Dolphins' 2023 schedule seems fairly weather-friendly, with five home games from November 19 to the end of the year. So those annual images of Buffalo Bills fans throwing snowballs at Dolphins plays might be on hold for at least a year. Overall, the Dolphins also get a break by closing out the season with four of five games at home, including a Week 18 tilt against the Bills.

Good news also came for Dolphins players, with the team receiving an early holiday gift from the NFL in the form of a three-game homestand in December that will run through Christmas.

Here is a look at the Dolphins' full 2023 schedule:
  • Week 1 Sun., Sept. 10 at Los Angeles Chargers SoFi Stadium CBS 4:25 p.m.
  • Week 2 Sun., Sept. 17 at New England Patriots Gillette Stadium FOX 8:20 p.m.
  • Week 3 Sun., Sept. 24 Denver Broncos Hard Rock Stadium CBS 1 p.m.
  • Week 4 Sun., Oct. 1 at Buffalo Bills Highmark Stadium CBS 1 p.m.
  • Week 5 Sun., Oct. 8 New York Giants Hard Rock Stadium FOX 1 p.m.
  • Week 6 Sun., Oct. 15 Carolina Panthers Hard Rock Stadium CBS 1 p.m.
  • Week 7 Sun., Oct. 22 at Philadelphia Eagles Lincoln Financial Field NBC 8:20 p.m.
  • Week 8 Sun., Oct. 29 New England Patriots Hard Rock Stadium CBS 1 p.m.*
  • Week 9 Sun., Nov. 5 at Kansas City Chiefs Deutsche Bank Park (Germany) NFL Network 9:30 a.m.
  • Week 10 Bye Week
  • Week 11 Sun., Nov. 19 Las Vegas Raiders Hard Rock Stadium CBS 1 p.m.
  • Week 12 Fri., Nov. 24 at New York Jets MetLife Stadium Prime Video 3 p.m.
  • Week 13 Sun., Dec. 3 at Washington Commanders FedEx Field FOX 1 p.m.
  • Week 14 Mon., Dec. 11 Tennessee Titans Hard Rock Stadium ESPN 8:15 p.m.
  • Week 15 Sun., Dec. 17 New York Jets Hard Rock Stadium CBS 1 p.m.
  • Week 16 Sun., Dec. 24 Dallas Cowboys Hard Rock Stadium FOX 4:25 p.m.
  • Week 17 Sun., Dec. 31 at Baltimore Ravens M&T Bank Stadium CBS 1 p.m.
  • Week 18 Jan. 6 or 7 Buffalo Bills Hard Rock Stadium TBD

Miami Dolphins Road Show

The Dolphins' schedule is formidable opponent-wise but also in flight miles. According to Bookies.com, the Dolphins' 27,000 road-trip miles rank third in the NFL.

Compared to the Dolphins' massive slate of scheduled airline-and-chill hours, the Cincinnati Bengals will travel a league-low 11,492 miles. Of the NFL's 32 teams, 20 franchises will travel less than 20,000 miles in 2023, meaning the Dolphins will travel 7,000 miles more (about as much as a flight from Miami to Japan) than most of the NFL.

What Vegas Predicts

Draft Kings Sportsbook has set the Dolphins' regular season over-under for wins at 9.5, the seventh-highest total in the AFC. The team has the NFL's second-hardest 2023-2024 schedule in terms of opponents' records last season.

Given the level of competition coupled with the now-known road to be traveled throughout the 17-game season, chances are that the over-under may come down a smidge.

The difference between a nine- and ten-win season is normally a trip to Cancun or a trip to the AFC Wildcard Game, so if you're banging the over on 9.5, you're betting on the 'Phins overcoming their veritable Taylor Swift world tour and a barrage of high-level opponents to make the playoffs for a second-straight season. 
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Ryan Yousefi is a freelance writer for Miami New Times, a lover of sports, and an expert consumer of craft beer and pho. Hanley Ramirez once stole a baseball from him and to this day still owes him $10.

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