Breaking Down Dolphins Strength of Schedule Numbers
There were five teams in the 2019 playoffs who were not there the previous season — Buffalo, Tennessee, Green Bay, Minnesota and San Francisco — and that's the biggest argument not to take the ever-popular strength of schedule too seriously when it comes to making predictions.
Based purely on the numbers, the Miami Dolphins have the third-toughest schedule in the NFL in 2020 based on their opponents' combined winning percentage of .523 last season.
The numbers are greatly influenced by the fact the schedule rotation has the AFC East teams' interconference games in 2020 being against the NFC West, which was the best division in the NFL last year.
The 49ers (13-3), Seahawks (11-5), Rams (9-7) and Cardinals (5-10-1) combined to go 38-25-1 in 2019, which was four more victories than any other division. The NFC Central had the second-best overall record at 34-29-1 and the AFC East was third at 34-30.
The Dolphins do have an advantage over their AFC East counterparts because their last-place finish gave them games against the last-place finishers in the AFC North and AFC South, and those are the only two games different than what the rest of the division has to face.
So the Dolphins will be facing Cincinnati and Jacksonville for their two non-common opponents among AFC East team, while New England will have Baltimore and Houston; Buffalo will have Pittsburgh and Tennessee; and the Jets will have Cleveland and Indianapolis.
Another way of looking at this schedule is that the Dolphins will play seven games against teams that made the playoffs in 2019 — New England twice, Buffalo twice, Kansas City, San Francisco and Seattle — and that's the same number as the Patriots. The Bills will play five games against teams that made the playoffs last season, and the Jets will play six.
DIVISION
2019 Winning percentage of division rivals:
1. Arizona .688
2. Detroit .646
3. L.A. Rams .615
4. Miami .604
5. Cincinnati .583
6. Seattle .573
7. Carolina .563
N.Y. Jets .563
9. Chicago .552
10. Jacksonville .542
L.A. Chargers .542
12. San Francisco .531
13. Atlanta .521
Indianapolis .521
Tampa Bay .521
16. Minnesota .510
17. Buffalo .500
Cleveland .500
Denver .500
Las Vegas .500
21. Tennessee .479
22. Houston .458
New England .458
Pittsburgh .458
25. Green Bay .448
26. Washington .438
27. N.Y. Giants .417
28. Kansas City .396
New Orleans .396
30. Baltimore .333
31. Dallas .333
32. Philadelphia .313
OUT OF DIVISION
2019 Winning percentage of out of conference and out of division opponents:
1. Philadelphia .591
2. New England .584
3. Kansas City .563
4. Houston .553
5. New Orleans .547
6. Buffalo .541
7. Green Bay .538
8. Dallas .534
9. Atlanta .528
10. San Francisco .525
11. N.Y. Giants .522
12. Denver .519
Minnesota .519
14. N.Y. Jets .516
15. Tennessee .509
16. Baltimore .500
17. Las Vegas .494
18. Indianapolis .491
Tampa Bay .491
20. Miami .484
21. Chicago .481
Washington .481
23. Seattle .469
24. Jacksonville .466
25. Carolina .463
L.A. Chargers .463
27. L.A. Rams .456
Pittsburgh .456
29. Detroit .453
30. Cleveland .438
31. Arizona .416
32. Cincinnati .413
OVERALL
Combined 2019 winning percentage for all 16 opponents.
1. New England .537
2. N.Y. Jets .533
3. Miami .529
4. San Francisco .527
5. Atlanta .525
Buffalo .525
Detroit .525
8. Arizona .518
Houston .518
10. L.A. Rams .516
Minnesota .516
12. Denver .512
13. Chicago .508
Seattle .508
15. Green Bay .504
16. Indianapolis .502
Tampa Bay .502
18. Carolina .500
Kansas City .500
20. Tennessee .498
21. Las Vegas .496
22. Jacksonville .494
23. L.A. Chargers .492
24. New Orleans .490
25. Philadelphia .486
26. N.Y. Giants .482
27. Cincinnati .477
28. Washington .465
29. Cleveland .461
30. Dallas .459
31. Pittsburgh .457
32. Baltimore .438
