Thanksgiving Day Matchup on Tap for Dolphins?
We're up to nine NFL games revealed for the 2022 regular season after the announcement Tuesday morning that the Denver Broncos would face the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on Christmas Day.
When the full regular season schedule is unveiled Thursday at 8 p.m., we will know the participants for another major holiday, Thanksgiving Day, and it's looking very much like the Miami Dolphins will be playing that day.
More specifically, expect the NFL to announce that the Dolphins will be facing the Detroit Lions at Ford Field in the first game of the day.
As revealed to the Los Angeles Times by Vice President of NFL Broadcast Planning Michael North, the league is back to its format of having Detroit and Dallas rotate hosting AFC teams for the Thanksgiving Day afternoon games.
Based on the league's rotational schedule, the Lions are hosting this season the Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills, along with AFC opponent Jacksonville for the "17th game." North, however, told the L.A. Times that the Lions would be hosting either the Bills or Dolphins.
Pro Football Network reported that the Dolphins will be Detroit's 2022 Thanksgiving Day opponent, which makes sense on a couple of levels.
First, Buffalo played on Thanksgiving Day in both 2019 (at Dallas) and 2021 (at night at New Orleans), and it would be unusual to have the Bills play on this day a third time in four years.
Second, the Dolphins-Lions matchup is a natural given that Detroit head coach Dan Campbell served as Miami interim head coach for the final 12 games of the 2015 season.
The Dolphins' Thanksgiving Day History
The Dolphins have played at Detroit on Thanksgiving Day once, winning 27-10 in 2006 when they were led by former Lions quarterback Joey Harrington.
Overall, Miami has appeared on Thanksgiving Day seven times but not since 2011 when the Dolphins dropped a 20-19 decision against the Dallas Cowboys on a last-second field goal by Dan Bailey.
Of course, the biggest Dolphins Thanksgiving Day highlight came in 1977 when they played at St. Louis, one of only two times (1975 was the other) the NFL had an afternoon game on turkey day someplace other than Dallas or Detroit.
With Bob Griese famously wearing eyeglasses, the Dolphins set a single-game franchise record for points that still exists to this day in a 55-14 rout of the Cardinals.
DOLPHINS ON THANKSGIVING (5-2)
2011 at Dallas L 19-20
2006 at Detroit W 27-10
2003 at Dallas W 40-21
1999 at Dallas L 0-20
1993 at Dallas W 16-14
1977 at St. Louis W 55-14
1973 at Dallas W 14-7
THE 2022 NFL GAMES ANNOUNCED
Week 2 — Thursday, Sept. 15, L.A. Chargers at Kansas City, 8:20 p.m. (Amazon Prime); Monday, Sept. 19, Tennessee at Buffalo, 7:15 p.m. (ESPN), Monday, Sept. 19, Minnesota at Philadelphia, 8:30 p.m. (ABC)
Week 4 — Sunday, Oct. 2, Minnesota vs. New Orleans, at London, England, 9:30 a.m. ET (NFL Network)
Week 5 — Sunday, Oct. 9, N.Y. Giants vs. Green Bay, at London, England, 9:30 a.m. ET (NFL Network)
Week 8 — Sunday, Oct. 30, Denver vs. Jacksonville, at London, England, 9:30 a.m. ET (ESPN+)
Week 10 — Sunday, Nov. 13, Seattle vs. Tampa Bay, at Munich, Germany, 9:30 a.m. ET (NFL Network)
Week 11 — Monday, Nov. 21, San Francisco vs. Arizona, at Mexico City, 8:15 p.m. (NFL Network)
Week 16 — Sunday, Dec. 25, Denver at L.A. Rams, 4:30 p.m. (CBS, Nickelodeon)
