Dolphins will open season vs. Patriots, host Christmas game
The Dolphins will open their 2022 season at home against the New England Patriots and host the Green Bay Packers on Christmas Day.
The Dolphins will get the honor of playing in one of three NFL games slotted for Christmas Day.
They will host quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 25, one of the highlights of their 2022 regular-season schedule announced Thursday night.
The Dolphins will host the Patriots on Sept. 11 to begin the season, the third year in a row the divisional rivals have opened the season against each other. The Dolphins swept New England last season for the first time since the 2002-03 season.
The Dolphins’ schedule also includes prime-time games against the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers, six matchups against 2021 playoff teams and a bevy of notable reunions.
The team’s first road game will be against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, Sept. 18, a rematch of last season’s 22-10 upset in Miami.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 Draft, will go head-to-head with two of the other signalcallers selected in the top 10 of his draft class, the Bengals’ Joe Burrow and Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert. The Dolphins will travel to Cincinnati for a “Thursday Night Football” matchup in Week 4 — this game will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video and for free on local TV — and
head to Los Angeles in Week 14. Tagovailoa has won the only head-tohead matchup with Herbert, a 29-21 victory in 2020. Burrow was injured for the Dolphins’ last matchup with the Bengals, a 19-7 Miami win.
The Dolphins will host the Steelers in Week 7 on “Sunday Night Football,”
which will be Brian Flores’ first trip back to Miami since being fired as Dolphins coach in January and later naming the franchise
in a racial discrimination lawsuit.
The team will also host the Cleveland Browns in Week 10, which could be Deshaun Watson’s first game against the franchise since the team’s extended trade pursuit for the Pro Bowl quarterback. Watson is still being investigated by the NFL amid accusations of sexual misconduct and could receive a multigame suspension. If unavailable to play, Jacoby Brissett, who was the Dolphins’ backup last season, is expected to start.
And the Dolphins will face the San Francisco 49ers in Week 13, marking new coach Mike McDaniel’s return to the franchise where he served as an assistant under Kyle Shanahan for five seasons.
After traveling to London to play the Jacksonville Jaguars last season, the Dolphins aren’t traveling overseas to play in 2022.
In Weeks 3 and 14, the Dolphins will face the
Bills, who have dominated the divisional matchup in recent years. The Dolphins are 1-7 against quarterback Josh Allen and have lost their last seven matchups with Buffalo.
The six teams the Dolphins
will face that made the postseason the previous year are the Bengals, Bills, Patriots, Steelers, 49ers and Packers. In 2021, the Dolphins were 2-5 in games against playoff teams, with their only victories coming against the Patriots.
Under the NFL’s scheduling rotation, the Dolphins will play the AFC North and NFC North. Since they finished third in the AFC East last season, the Dolphins will face last year’s third-place finisher in the AFC South (Houston Texans), AFC West (Chargers) and NFC West (49ers). The Dolphins will have a bye week in Week 11 and end the season at home against the New York Jets.
With back-to-back trips to the West Coast, the Dolphins will travel the fourth-most miles this season but could elect to stay in California between the two games.
While the Dolphins have two prime-time games, NFL rules allow games to be flexed in and out of the Sunday night slot between Weeks 5-10, Weeks 11-15 and Week 17. Between Week 5 and Week 10, flexible scheduling cannot be used in more than two games. Only Sunday afternoon games can be moved into the night slot.
ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” will also be able to flex games, starting with Week 12 of the season. ESPN’s package also includes the ability to include four teams up to two times each.
The Dolphins are looking to make the playoffs in their first year under McDaniel, which would be the franchise’s first postseason appearance since the 2016 season. The team hasn’t won a playoff game since 2001, which only trails the Detroit Lions for the longest-active drought in the NFL.
The Dolphins will play their three preseason games at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Sat, Aug. 13, 7:30 p.m.) and then host the Las Vegas Raiders (Sat, Aug. 20, 7 p.m.) and Philadelphia Eagles (Sat, Aug. 27, 7 pm). All games will be broadcast on CBS.