Dolphins Schedule Spotlight: Closing with Two on the Road

The Miami Dolphins will finish the season with two road games for the sixth time in franchise history

Alain Poupart | May 23, 2024

The thriller at Las Vegas in 2020 was part of a two-game season-ending road trip for the Miami Dolphins / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

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Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins will close out their 2024 schedule with two road games for the sixth time in franchise history, and the second time in five seasons.

By contrast, the Dolphins have closed with two home games 10 times, though not since the 2015 season. And they closed with two at home in 2001 after their home opener against the Buffalo Bills was pushed back to the end of the season when the NFL postponed all the games the weekend after the events of 9/11.

The two road games to close things out is one of the clear highlights of this Dolphins 2024 schedule, so we break it down.

WHAT RECENT NFL HISTORY TELLS US ABOUT HAVING TWO HOME GAMES AT THE START

The Dolphins will be one of five teams with two road games to end the 2024 season, along with the Carolina Panthers, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle Seahawks.

Interestingly, the Dolphins and two-time Super Bowl champion Chiefs both start with two games at home and end with two on the road.

In the past three seasons, 13 teams ended with consecutive road games.

Those teams had a 10-16 record in those games, with only two teams finishing 2-0, the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers, who both did it last season. They both made the playoffs.

Three other teams made the playoffs while finishing their schedule with two road games and they all went 1-1 in those final two games: the 2021 Chiefs, 2022 Dallas Cowboys and 2022 Minnesota Vikings.

Five of the 13 teams lost both on those final two road games, including the defending Super Bowl champion Rams in 2022, the New York Jets in 2022 and the Atlanta Falcons last season.

THE DOLPHINS SEASONS THAT END WITH TWO ON THE ROAD

The Dolphins' previous seasons with two road games at the end were 1993, 1995, 2002, 2008 and 2020.

The Dolphins only were able to finish 2-0 with two on the road once, and that happened in 2008 when they won at Kansas City and New York against the Jets. That season, as most Dolphins fans should know, is the last time the team won the AFC East title.

Interestingly, the Dolphins finished with a winning record every time they ended a season with two road games, though they did miss the playoffs in three of those five seasons.

The latest example came in 2020 when the Dolphins were left out of the playoffs despite a 10-6 record after ending the season with a borderline-miraculous comeback victory against the Las Vegas Raiders and a blowout loss against the Buffalo Bills.

The Dolphins also split their final two road games in 1995 when they lost at Buffalo but then won at St. Louis against the Rams to clinch a playoff berth in the last season of Don Shula's legendary coaching career.

The Dolphins missed the playoffs in both 1993 and 2002 when they lost their final two games on the road — and the finale was at New England each time. In 1993, when the Dolphins lost their final five games, the penultimate game was at San Diego on a Monday night; in 2002, it was at Minnesota on a Saturday afternoon.

Alain Poupart is the publisher/editor of AllDolphins.com and co-host of the All Dolphins Podcast. Alain has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989 for various publications and media outlets, including Dolphin Digest, The Associated Press, the Dolphins team website, and the Fan Nation Network (part of Sports Illustrated). In addition to being a credentialed member of the Miami Dolphins press corps, Alain has covered three Super Bowls (for NFL.com, Football News and the Montreal Gazette), the annual NFL draft, the Senior Bowl, and the NFL Scouting Combine. During his almost 40 years in journalism, which began at the now-defunct Miami News, Alain has covered practically every sport at one time or another, from tennis to golf, baseball, basketball and everything in between. The career also included time as a copy editor, including work on several books such as "Still Perfect," an inside look at the Miami Dolphins' 1972 perfect season. A native of Montreal, Canada, whose first language is French, Alain grew up a huge hockey fan but soon developed a love for all sports, including NFL football. He has lived in South Florida since the 1980s.

WHAT RECENT NFL HISTORY TELLS US ABOUT HAVING TWO HOME GAMES AT THE START

THE DOLPHINS SEASONS THAT END WITH TWO ON THE ROAD

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