Dolphins Schedule Outlook and Flex Possibilities
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As the Miami Dolphins continue to roll, the likelihood of at least one other prime-time appearance this season has turned into almost a certainty. And it's now entirely possible it could be two more prime-time appearances down the stretch to add to the two they've already made.
The Dolphins' Week 15 game against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium is among five designated before the season at TBD for either Saturday, Dec. 17 or Sunday, Dec. 18, and with both teams tied atop the AFC East standings, it remains the most attractive of the matchups. The NFL will take three of the five matchups and put them in three Saturday slots — 1 p.m., 4:15 and 8:30 p.m.
The NFL will announce the Week 15 schedule at the conclusion of Week 13 — after the Dolphins play at San Francisco on Sunday.
Along with Miami at Buffalo, the other games not yet scheduled in Week 15 are Baltimore and Cleveland, Indianapolis at Minnesota, Atlanta at New Orleans, and the New York Giants at Washington.
Along with the teams' records and the playoff implications of the Miami-Buffalo game, you can factor in the national appeal of Josh Allen and the national appeal of the Dolphins' high-flying passing game with Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, and you have a very strong leading candidate for that game.
The only other game we could see the NFL determining to be a more attractive prime-time matchup or potentially merit higher TV ratings would be the Giants-Commanders game — in large part because of the size of the New York market. But the Giants have lost two straight after a 7-2 start and Washington is 7-5.
Playing at Buffalo on Saturday night, Dec. 17, would be quite the challenge for the Dolphins, not only because of the potential weather conditions but also because that game wraps up a three-game road trip and comes on a short week after the game at San Francisco.
Another possibility is for the Dolphins-Bills game to be flexed out to the Sunday night spot in place of the currently scheduled New England at Las Vegas.
The Patriots aren't typically a team that gets flexed out, but the Raiders remain long shots to make the playoffs with a 4-7 record through 11 games and the NFL might decide Miami-Buffalo is a much more desirable matchup that will attract more viewers for Sunday night and go with the NYG-WASH game Saturday night.
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THE DOLPHINS AND OTHER SUNDAY NIGHTS
With the Dolphins at 8-3 and in contention not only for the AFC East title but the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs, they sure would seem like a good team that would be appealing for Sunday Night Football down the stretch, particularly with their entertaining brand of football.
Here's the rest of the 2022 Sunday night lineup and the realistic flex possibilities:
Even though the schedule already has been set for Week 13, we can't let the occasion go by without mentioning how disappointing for football fans that the NFL stuck with the original SNF matchup of Indy at Dallas because of the Cowboys' star power when there are so many much more attractive games on the schedule, one of them being the Dolphins at San Francisco.
In Week 14, the Dolphins have another juicy matchup against the Chargers at SoFi Stadium and there's the Tua-Justin Herbert matchup on top of it ... but the SNF game is Chiefs at Broncos, and Patrick Mahomes is ratings gold.
But Denver is struggling so badly this season that this looks like a game that could be over by halftime, which isn't good for TV ratings, so the NFL might decide — as painful as it would be — to pull the Chiefs from the Sunday night slot.
Along with the Miami-L.A. game, other attractive matchups that could be considered worthy of a flex to Sunday night include the Jets at Buffalo (yes, the Jets) and Philadelphia at the New York Giants.
NFL writer Peter King put in his vote for the Dolphins-Chargers game to be flexed to Sunday night in his weekly column Monday.
Maybe the biggest chance for a flex (outside of the Week 15 TBD) could be Week 17 when the Dolphins play at New England, if the game has major playoff implications, because the scheduled Sunday night game is Rams at Chargers, and the Rams season is going nowhere with Matthew Stafford on the sidelines.
The only other Sunday game in Week 17 that features two teams that currently have a winning record is the Jets at Seattle.
As a reminder, the Sunday night game for Week 18 will be set after Week 17 and will be dependent upon playoff ramifications, and those could come into play for the Dolphins finale against the New York Jets at Hard Rock Stadium considering both teams are in the thick of the playoff picture through 12 weeks.
In a new twist this season, in addition to the traditional season-ending Sunday night game, the NFL will pull out two more games and schedule them for Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET and 8:15 p.m. ET.
It also should be noted there will be no flexing of the schedule in Week 16. That's Christmas weekend, and the Dolphins will face the Green Bay Packers at Hard Rock Stadium at 1 p.m. as one of three games on Dec. 25.
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