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Dolphins Schedule Breakdown: The Thursday Night Road Game
With the Dolphins scheduled for only one night game in 2020, it's clear the NFL doesn't believe they are ready for prime time yet.
It's also apparent the NFL doesn't believe in having the Dolphins play at home in Thursday night games.
The Dolphins will be playing in a Thursday night game this season for the fifth time in six years, and for the fifth time that game will be on the road.
The Thursday night game this year will be at Jacksonville, so the Dolphins do get a break when it comes to the quality of the opposition because the Jaguars are expected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL.
But winning on the road on a Thursday night is not an easy proposition, given the challenges of traveling on a short week.
Since 2015, the home team has a 47-26 record at home in Thursday night games, excluding the season opener because that one affords both teams plenty of time to prepare and there's no quick turnaround involved. That record equals a winning percentage of 64.3 percent, ahead of the normal winning percentage for home teams of a bit under 60 percent.
In those past five seasons, the road team has never produced a winning record in non-opening Thursday night games. The closest that came to happening was in 2015 when the road team was 7-8.
The last time road teams won more than they lost in non-opening Thursday night games was in 2014 when they went 8-7.
That also happened to be the last year the Dolphins played host to a Thursday night, which happened in November when they defeated the Buffalo Bills, 22-9.
The four Thursday night road games since then have not been pretty.
The Dolphins lost 36-7 at New England in 2015; 22-7 at Cincinnati in 2016; 40-0 at Baltimore in 2017; and 42-23 at Houston in 2018. That's an average score of 35-9.
Interestingly, when the NFL started with Thursday night games, the Dolphins were a favored destination.
They played their first four Thursday night games at home, but that trend started to change with the 2006 season opener when they faced the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field.
The Dolphins are 1-6 on the road in Thursday night games, their only victory coming in 2009 at Carolina when Ricky Williams rushed more than 100 yards and scored three touchdowns.
