Here’s Why the Dolphins Desperately Need a Hot Start to the 2024 NFL Season

The Miami Dolphins have one of the easier schedules in the NFL in 2024, but they face a gauntlet to end the year. That difficult draw late in the season could result in the continuation of a concerning trend for head coach Mike McDaniel and Miami.

In McDaniel’s first season at the helm, the Dolphins started 8–3. Injuries to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa certainly contributed to the team’s skid as Miami finished 1–5 before a wild-card loss to the division rival Buffalo Bills in the team’s first playoff appearance since 2016.

The Dolphins were playing even better football in 2023 when they were 9–3, their best start in decades. Yet once again, they faltered in the cold-weather months. Miami ended the year 2–3 and missed out on the division title before an uninspiring loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the frigid wild-card game.

Those late-season struggles might just rear their head again this year given the way the Dolphins’ schedule stacks up. Before Thanksgiving, just three of their 11 games are against playoff teams from last season — Miami plays the Bills twice and the Los Angeles Rams on the road.

Beginning on Turkey Day with a prime-time game at Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers, four of the Dolphins’ final six games are against 2023 playoff teams. The other two are against the New York Jets, who expect to end their postseason drought this year. Miami also plays the Houston Texans and Cleveland Browns on the road and San Francisco 49ers at home during this stretch.

Not only have the Dolphins faded in December and January the last few seasons, they’ve specifically struggled against playoff teams. They went 2–5 against teams that made the postseason in 2022 and 1–5 last year. Miami has seven games in 2024 against teams that made the playoffs in 2023 and eight against teams that are projected to make the postseason in 2024, according to FanDuel Sportsbook .

The Dolphins are also 7–12 (including the playoffs) outside of South Florida over the last two years and 13–4 at Hard Rock Stadium, so it doesn’t help that a huge chunk of the toughest stretch of their schedule will be played on the road.

The good news is that Miami has every opportunity to pile up wins in September, October and much of November. The Dolphins open with three of their first four games at home (Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo, Tennessee Titans) with a cross-country road trip to play the Seattle Seahawks as the lone exception. The Bills are the only projected playoff team they play before their Week 6 bye.

The next stretch includes forgiving home games against the Arizona Cardinals, Las Vegas Raiders and New England Patriots. There’s a fair chance that Miami is already in a good spot to make a playoff push when it embarks on that final third of the schedule.

Finishing strong — or at least not having the wheels fall off again this winter — could be essential to ending their 24-year run without a playoff win , the longest drought in professional sports. But as the last two seasons have shown, that’s easier said than done.

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