The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Next Year's Opponents:

Home: Raiders, Broncos, Cowboys, Giants, Titans, and Panthers

Away: Chiefs, Chargers, Eagles, Commanders, and Ravens

More home than away games, but the away games are tough.  All the NFC East teams improved this past year so that could make it a tough season.

Why do we have to play the Ravens every single year? It's not a natural rivalry in the slightest.

Baltimore (Colts) used to be a rival but this time it's because of records and where we ended up.

This Baltimore team were the Browns, we had no rivalry with them. I know what you're saying, but I am so sick of being "rivalried" with a perennial playoff contender. Let's play the Texans every year. Texas is hot, Miami is hot. Boom! Rivalry over the weather.

The NFL won’t do it but we should host Cowboys on Thanksgiving.

I appreciate that I’m guaranteed at least one game to watch with Denver.

You don't.  But you do often.  One out of three years the teams play because the entire AFCE plays the AFCN.  The other two years it is based on last years record and the Ravens and Dolphins both teams seem to very often fall in the 2nd or 3rd place range and often having the same place.   

The Dolphins will have to play the Ravens every year they have the same place of finish in division rankings.

Including next year, MIA will play LAC 4 of 5 years in a row.

As far as strenght of schedule goes, based on this past season, the Dolphins will have the 2nd hardest schedule (Eagles will have the hardest).

Initial strengths are rarely correct. Teams are never as good or bad as the previous season. I'm not sure where we started but we ended up having the second hardest strength of schedule this past year too.

Rank   Team   Opp. Record   Opp. Win Pct.
1   Philadelphia Eagles   161-123-4   0.566
2   Miami Dolphins   158-127-2   0.554
3   New York Giants   157-129-2   0.549
3   New England Patriots   156-128-3   0.549
3   Dallas Cowboys   156-128-4   0.549
6   New York Jets   155-129-3   0.545
7   Buffalo Bills   155-131-2   0.542
8   Washington Commanders   153-133-2   0.535
9   Los Angeles Rams   152-133-3   0.533
10   Las Vegas Raiders   150-136-2   0.52
11   Arizona Cardinals   148-137-3   0.519
12   Denver Broncos   148-138-2   0.517
12   Seattle Seahawks   148-138-2   0.517
12   Los Angeles Chargers   149-139-0   0.517
15   San Francisco 49ers   147-139-2   0.514
16   Kansas City Chiefs   147-140-0   0.512
17   Cincinnati Bengals   146-140-2   0.510
18   Chicago Bears   143-145-1   0.497
18   Minnesota Vikings   143-145-0   0.497
20   Detroit Lions   143-146-0   0.495
21   Baltimore Ravens   138-147-2   0.484
22   Tampa Bay Buccaneers   138-148-2   0.483
23   Jacksonville Jaguars   135-148-4   0.477
24   Green Bay Packers   137-151-1   0.476
25   Pittsburgh Steelers   134-151-2   0.470
26   Cleveland Browns   131-154-2   0.460
27   Carolina Panthers   130-157-2   0.453
28   Tennessee Titans   127-157-4   0.448
29   Indianapolis Colts   124-162-2   0.434
30   Houston Texans   123-163-2   0.431
31   New Orleans Saints   122-164-3   0.427
32   Atlanta Falcons   119-167-3   0.417

Ugh, I think I'll go back to working at the store on Sundays next fall.   

What a tough schedule they have next year

Yep. I have to admit my first thought was "holy shit, if we win the division, or even make the playoffs next year we will really have earned it"...

Then again, there is an old saying... the strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire.

Just a quick reminder of the new schedule rules (with the 17th game):

1. Home and away against the other teams in the same division (6 games).
2. Home or away (2 each) against the paired same-conference division, rotates every year for a 3-year cycle (4 games).
3. Home or away (2 each) against the paired opposite-conference division, rotates every year for a 4-year cycle (4 games).
4. Home or away against the team that finished in the same position in their division (as we did in ours) in each of the non-paired same-conference divisions (2 games).
5. The 17th game matches the team with one from the opposite conference division that the team's division was paired with 2 years ago. Home and away here is determined by conference, with AFC getting all home games this year as NFC got them in 2022 (1 game).

For 2023, the AFC East is paired with the AFC West and NFC East. That means we get the Ravens and the Titans for our games in #4. From the NFC we were paired with the NFC South two years ago, making our 17th game against the Panthers.


It's worth remembering that  to win the division, we compete against teams with very similar schedules as us. Where we face the Ravens, the Bills get the Bengals and the Patriots get the Steelers. And where we get the Titans, the Bills get the Jags and the Patriots get the Colts. Finally, where we get the Panthers, the Bills get the Bucs and the Patriots get the Saints. All the other opponents are the same, although there is obviously some variation in home/away and when the games will be played. Overall, though, the schedules are very similar and I'd be hard-pressed to say our schedule is definitely more difficult that that of the Bills or Patriots.

Rough year for the east coast all of the top 8 tough schedules come from AFCE and NFCE.

Allsportculture (whatever that is) has us ranked as the 2nd hardest Strength of Schedule behind only the Eagles.

I don't put too much into that, though.  We play the NFC East and they were good this year, but it's a big assumption to think they'll all be good again.  I mean...it's not good news, but I don't think it's a doomsday scenario.

In fact, their top 8 spots are just the AFC and NFC East.  They must think we're gonna be two great divisions.

And the truth is all of our divisional rivals are typically tough games regardless of records.

Yeah, things change pretty quickly in the NFL. The Jaguars won the division and the Cardinals/Rams were terrible. We coul end up with an easy schedule next year depending on how things shake out.

Since we are playing the NFC East next year I took a look at who the Cowboys played last year, and they played against some easy teams last year: Houston, Indy, Chicago, Detroit (early in the year before they started winning) Green Bay, Tampa, Denver, La Rams.  The other teams in the NFCE also played against some of these easy opponents - so I wouldn't expect the NFCE to do as well next year, thereby making Miami's "Strength of Schedule" a bit easier when the season is over.