Dolphins Schedule Leaks: Sunday Night in New England

After the official announcement Wednesday of two national televised games for the Miami Dolphins, we now have reports of a Sunday night game at New England in Week 2.

The reports included one from longtime Dolphins writer Adam Beasley of Pro Football Network, but it now looks as though this will not be the game where the Patriots honor legendary QB Tom Brady at Gillette Stadium.

The Patriots announced Thursday morning that they will Brady at their 2023 home opener, though the date and opponent weren't mentioned. But reports since have surfaced the New England will play at home in Week 1, so Brady will end up getting honored during an afternoon game — which is pretty unusual.

Barring something we missed, the Patriots will be playing an afternoon game in Week 1 because we already know the three night games for Week 1 as Detroit at Kansas City on Thursday night; Dallas at the New York Giants on Sunday night; and Buffalo at the New York Jets on Monday night.

The Dolphins' three national TV games so far then:

Week 2 — at New England, Sunday Night Football

Week 9 — vs. Kansas City, in Germany

Week 12 — at New York Jets, Black Friday

The full NFL schedule will be released Thursday night.

NEW OPENING OPPONENT

The revelation of the Sunday night game at New England in Week 2 also means the Dolphins will have a new opponent for their opener for the first time since 2019.

The Dolphins opened their last three seasons against the Patriots — at Gillette Stadium in 2020 and 2021, and at Hard Rock Stadium in 2022.

Based on the games that have been reported so far, the latest being Carolina facing Atlanta in Week 1, the list of possible games for the opener is down to seven, none an AFC East matchup:

-- at Baltimore

-- vs. Tennessee

-- at L.A. Chargers

-- vs. Denver

-- vs. Las Vegas

-- at Philadelphia

-- at Washington

New England is out as a Week 1 opponent because the NFL isn't going to schedule the two games between division teams in the first two weeks; Buffalo and the Jets are facing each other; same with Dallas and the Giants; and the Chiefs are facing Detroit.

Unless the NFL will give the Dolphins two road games to start the season — it's happened before — the Week 1 opponent will be the Titans, Raiders or Broncos.