OK Dolphins fans, the schedule is out, so now we know who we’re playing, when we’re playing them, and most importantly, where we’re playing them. We start off the season with 2 home games in a row, but neither of those games give us a real heat advantage. Our home opener is against another FLA team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, so they’re nearly as accustomed to the heat as our team is. We then play the Bills on Thursday Night Football, which not only gives us a short week, but the heat advantage is nullified by the 8:20PM start, because the sun won’t be baking the Bills players all game long. The Jaguars drafted LSU WR Brian Thomas is RD1 and he should help QB Trevor Lawrence, who no longer has WR Calvin Ridley, so Brian Thomas, veteran WR Christian Kirk, along with TE Evan Engram, and newly acquired former Bills WR Gabe Davis round out the receiving corps.

The Bills, appear to have taken a step back, but as you know, I strongly feel that as long as Josh Allen is their QB, we’ll always have a difficult time taking them down. The Bills traded back a couple of times and made their first selection in RD2 taking Florida State WR Keon Coleman. who gives Allen a big target with excellent 50/50 ball skills. He makes those difficult catches, but we’ll have to see how quickly he can be assimilated into the offense. The Bills also added former Dolphins WR Chase Claypool. We know this is going to be a tough matchup, especially if our star OLB’s are missing, Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb, and we’re forced to rely on rookies Chop Robinson and Mo Kamara, along with veteran LB Shaq Barrett.

Our first road trip will be a long one, all the way to the farthest state in the contiguous United States, Washington, the farthest NW state, to face the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks selected my favorite DL in this draft, Byron Murphy from Texas at #16 in RD1. Later on they picked up Connecticut OG Christian Haynes, who many here liked as well. The Seahawks will bring back QB Geno Smith as their starter, along with veteran WR’s D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. The Seahawks were 9-8 last season, so I’d hope we can make the best of that long road trip.

When we return home to Florida, we’ll host the Tennessee Titans on Monday Night Football for a rematch. If you’re a Dolphins fan, you couldn’t possibly forget the the last minute upset victory by QB Will Levis and RB Derrick Henry. The Dolphins led 27-13 in the 4th QTR, but the Titans got 2 unanswered TD’s, one a TD pass from Will Levis to WR DeAndre Hopkins, and then after the Dolphins drive stalled and we punted, QB Will Levis found WR DeAndre Hopkins on a deep pass for 36 yards from the TEN 36, which then led to a Derrick Henry 3 yard plunge to take the lead 28-27, leaving the Dolphins 1 minute and 49 seconds to win the game. The drive started at the MIA 26, and the Dolphins managed one first down before losing the ball on downs, a 4th and 2 sack of Tua by Harold Landry, and that was that. A brutal collapse that I’m sure our boys would love to avenge!

Our next game is a road trip to the Northeast, to face our division rival New England Patriots. We’ve been doing well against the Pats the last 3 years and have 5-1 record against the Brady-less squad. The Patriots drafted what they hope is their franchise QB taking North Carolina QB Drake Maye at #3 in RD1. It’s entirely possible veteran QB Jacoby Brissett is under center but the Patriots may elect to begin the future for Maye sooner. Playing in Foxborough in October won’t be a weather disadvantage for us, so hopefully we can come away with another road victory.

We’ll have an early BYE week this season, and that will be Week 6. I’d always prefer a later BYE, but if our 2 OLB’s are still OUT at this juncture, I’d say their return could be the following week. We come out of our BYE Week and travel to Indianapolis to face the Colts. Colts starting QB Anthony Richardson, drafted in the 2023 NFL Draft #4 overall in RD1, was injured last season, but will be the starter once again this season. Richardson looked promising last season before the injury (Shoulder). The Colts have feature back RB Jonathan Taylor and in addition to WR Michael Pittman, the Colts drafted WR Adonai Mitchell from Texas in RD 2. It was, however their first pick at #15, when they selected pass rusher Laiatu Latu from UCLA that made Dolphins fans groan. Both of those players should make an impact for the Colts this season, and this will be no walk in the park.

Week 8 will bring us to this year’s Fest Game, as we host the Arizona Cardinals at Hard Rock, Sunday October 27th, just a scant few days before our own Herd’s birthday! The Cardinals suffered a rough 4-13 record last year. Their first draft pick should help QB Kyler Murray, who missed 8 games last season, and was pretty awful when he played. The Cards selected potentially the most NFL ready WR in the draft, and perhaps the best WR, in Ohio St. WR Marvin Harrison Jr at #4 in RD1. The Cards later added big DL Darius Robinson from Missouri. I would hope we can handle the Cards, and make it a wonderful birthday weekend for Herd!

We head back on the road to a place that has not been kind to us. The weather shouldn’t be a huge factor in Buffalo in early November, but Orchard Park is a little bit of a house of horrors for our Dolphins. We haven’t won there since 2016, and that was an OT affair, in which not Ryan Tannehill, but backup Matt Moore engineered the victory. I would love nothing more for our Dolphins to end the damn curse there, but we need to be healthy, and we’ll need to be physical. Tall task of course, but this is the 3rd season for HC Mike McDaniel, and I hope he can find the right gameplan to take the Bills down in their house. That would be a huge victory for our team.

We travel to California for yet another Monday Night affair, as we face off against the NFC’s Los Angeles Rams. The Rams, led by QB Matt Stafford had a nice finish last season making the playoffs, only to lose a tough matchup against the Detroit Lions, and their former QB Jared Goff, he of $212M contract fame. The Rams drafted 2 very good defensive players in the 2024 NFL Draft, first beginning with Florida St. pass rusher Jared Verse. The Rams then doubled down and took Florida St. DT Braden Fiske, both players favorites here. The Rams have big WR Puka Nacua who had 105 receptions last year for an astounding 1486 yards. The Rams feature a RB by committee approach with RB’s Kyren Williams, Blake Corum and Ronnie Rivers, and gone is RB Darrell Henderson. Stafford throws a lot, and the rookies will add some pop to their defense.

In Week 11, we return home to host the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders moved on from oft injured QB Jimmy Garropolo and signed veteran backup QB Gardner Minshew III. The Raiders tried to improve the offense by drafting the best TE available in the 2024 NFL Draft, TE Brock Bowers, and then following that up with a very good OC prospect we all know here, JPJ Jackson Powers-Johnson. RB Zamir White gets his chance to shine as heads the RB room. Veteran WR Davante Adams still brings it every game, along with Jakobi Meyers. The Raiders had a tough season last year, we’ll see how well Gardner Minshew fares as the starter.

In Week 12, we host the Patriots for our 2nd meeting of the season. Hopefully being home for 2 consecutive weeks has this team rested and ready to go because we need to beat the Patriots as we begin the difficult part of our schedule. I’d imagine Drake Maye will playing by then, that’s if he doesn’t start the season from the get go. Hopefully, our defense is humming along at full strength, with Phillips and Chubb back in the groove, and we give him more than he can handle.

Week 13 is where the most challenging part of the schedule starts. We fly to Wisconsin for a Thanksgiving Evening matchup in the cold climes of Green Bay to face the Packers. The Packers, despite a middling record of 9-8 managed to whip the Dallas Cowboys 48-32, and QB Jordan Love made it look easy. Love threw 3 TD’s, and no INT’sand RB Aaron Jones added 118 yards on the ground. The Packers lost the 49ers in a very competitive 24-21 loss. The Packers signed FA RB Josh Jacobs, and will pair him A.J. Dillon, as they finally parted ways with RB Aaron Jones. The Packers feature 3 young WR’s, Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs and Jayden Reed. Obviously, the weather could be a big factor here, we don’t play well on the road when it’s cold, that’s been heavily documented. We need to somehow find a way to overcome that, or don’t expect to see this team go any further than we did last season.

We come home in Week 14 to host our division rival NY Jets for the first time in ’24, a 1PM, but it’s December 8th, so the heat won’t be a factor unless South Florida has some crazy heat wave. The Jets had horrendous O-line play, and they did what they could to remedy that by drafting Penn State OT Olu Fashanu, much loved here on FMU, especially by PSU fans Brian in NY and M13. The Jets also made a big Free Agency acquisition, taking WR Mike Williams from the LA Chargers. In addition, in RD 3 they drafted their slot WR Malachi Corley from Western Kentucky. To help bolster the O-line, the Jets also signed former Cowboys OT Tyron Smith, and OG John Simpson from the Ravens. Of course, Aaron Rodgers should be back as well, so the Jets will no longer be an easy task in ’24, as long as he stays healthy. WR Garrett Wilson will no doubt benefit from having Mike Williams on the other side.

In Week 15, we travel to Texas to take on the Houston Texans. The upstart Texans had a very successful 2023 season. Their young QB who they drafted #2 in the ’23 NFL Draft played like a pro right out of the gate. He had an excellent season, even winning their first playoff matchup against the Cleveland Browns in impressive fashion, 45-14, in which Stroud threw 3 TD’s and finished with a 157.2 rating, nearly perfect. The Texans didn’t waste any time improving the roster, picking up WR Stefon Diggs from the Bills. Add Diggs to the already talented young WR corps of Nico Collins and Tank Dell, and that offense will be tough to stop.

Week 16 brings the San Francisco 49ers to Miami for a late Sunday Kickoff at 4:25PM. No doubt, Dar and Toba will do their best to attend, or should I say Dar will do her best to drag Doug to FLA to see her beloved Niners. Any way you slice it, this is a very trying task for our team. The Niners who of course lost a close matchup with the SB Champion Chiefs are an excellent team. The Niners drafted slot WR Ricky Pearsall from Florida with the 31st pick in RD1. Later, they also added RB Isaac Guerrendo, a fan favorite here for sure. The Niners defense is tremendous, and QB Brock Purdy will be in his 3rd season in this offense. Tough job here, but maybe the home crowd can get us a win!

Week 17 will have us back on the road after a rough matchup with the Niners. We travel to yet another cold weather destination, Cleveland to face the Browns. The Browns had all kinds of QB troubles last season. DeShaun Watson played in only 6 games, and veteran QB Joe Flacco gave Cleveland a nice temporary jolt, but ultimately they got wiped by the young Houston Texans in the playoffs, 45-14. Joe Flacco is no longer a Brown, but they have quite the interesting QB room with Watson, Jameis Winston, and former Ravens backup Tyler Huntley. The Browns feature the WR trio of Amari Cooper, former Broncos Wr Jerry Jeudy and Elijah Moore, former Jets WR. TE David Njoku still toils the seam there. They have one of the most productive run games in the NFL with RB Nick Chubb and Jerome Ford. They have an excellent O-line as well, and a solid defense. I can only hope our team is healthy at this point of the season, and we prove we can win a cold weather game on the road.

The Week 18, Season Finale will have us traveling to my area, New Jersey to face the NY Jets, which could be for the Division Crown! The game has not yet been given an actual date, it can potentially be flexed, but some time that weekend of January 4-6, we’ll be playing the Jets. As stated before, if Aaron Rodgers is the QB, they’re a considerably better opponent than we faced with QB Zach Wilson under center, and he’s now in Denver, behind rookie QB Bo Nix. By this point last season, our defense was a shell of what it started as, too many injuries to the D-line and mostly OLB’s to mention here. It was absurd. We must be in better condition and we have to do better managing that. Whether it’s the Jets we’re competing with for the crown, or the Bills, this will obviously be a huge game either way. We know we have folded too many times at the end of the season, time to fucking turn that around!

GO DOLPHINS!!!