Just How Tough Is the Dolphins 2023 Schedule ... And Did It Get Easier?

No matter how the NFL regular season schedule ends up being formulated — and we'll find out Thursday night — the Miami Dolphins aren't going to have an easy path to repeating as a playoff team.

Of course, the Dolphins just might have the personnel to make it two playoff appearances in a row for the first time since they did five straight seasons (1997-2001) at the end of Jimmy Johnson's tenure as head coach and the start of Dave Wannstedt's.

But the Dolphins ended up with the second-toughest schedule in the NFL based on opponents' combined winning percentage last season, and that happened because of bad timing.

Per ⁦@NFLResearch⁩:

Eagles have the “most difficult” 2023 strength-of-schedule.

Falcons have the “easiest”.

**(Past performance not necessarily indicative of future results.) pic.twitter.com/ylyP2aT3jW
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) May 9, 2023

The reason is that the rotation system the NFL uses for its scheduling had the AFC East teams face in 2023 all teams from the NFC East, which had a league-best 43-23-2 combined record last season.

And here's the thing: It could have been worse for the Dolphins because they could have been scheduled to face the entire AFC North, which was 38-29 last season, instead of the entire AFC West, which was 35-33.

THE DOLPHINS' QUARTERBACK GAUNTLET

Of course, the Dolphins' schedule got tougher when the New York Jets consummated the long-anticipated trade for quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who'll simply join a long list of elite passer who will face Miami in 2023: Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts.

Beyond the list of quarterbacks they will face, this should sum up how tough the Dolphins' 2023 schedule is: They will play almost as many games against teams that made the playoffs last season than not.

This includes two games against Buffalo and one each against Kansas City, Baltimore, the L.A. Chargers, Philadelphia, Dallas and the New York Giants.

But, as we chronicled earlier, the Dolphins caught a major break when the NFL decided to schedule their away game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Frankfurt, Germany, instead of Arrowhead Stadium.

Sure, the move negated the great story line of Tyreek Hill's return to Kansas City, but it also changed a road game from one of the toughest venues for visitors to a neutral-site game, where the Dolphins just might have more fan support than their opponent.

Yes, the challenge of defeating the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs would be formidable anywhere, but anyone not understanding it's slightly less daunting in Germany than Kansas City is off the mark.

In evaluating the schedule, date and site always factor beyond the opponent's record the previous season, and this move just flat-out made the Dolphins schedule a little bit easier.

And, yes, Dolphins fans should take little victories like this when they present themselves.