Dolphins schedule immediate reactions and fan poll

The Miami Dolphins’ 2018 schedule has been released, and now it is time to start breaking it down. Is it a good schedule? Is it a bad schedule? Did the league do the Dolphins a favor? Did they find a way to stick it to the South Florida team?

The league did not look to shine a spotlight on the Dolphins, keeping them to just one prime-time game this year. They will visit the Houston Texans on a Thursday Night Football opener to Week 8.

Other than that, Miami is currently scheduled to play the other 15 games at 1pm ET on Sunday. While they could be flexed into a Saturday game or a prime-time game late in the season, as of now, the league is clearly trying to bury the Dolphins away from the nation’s viewing public this year.

The Dolphins did request a home game to start the season this year, and the league did give that to them. They will host the Tennessee Titans that opening weekend, and they should be wearing white, which will force the Titans into their dark blue uniforms in the heat of an early September South Florida afternoon. Later in the month, during Week 3, the Dolphins will also get to host the Oakland Raiders, putting them in their black jerseys for a South Florida afternoon.

That entire month is actually not that bad for the Dolphins, with the other two games being a Week 2 game at the New York Jets and a Week 4 game at the New England Patriots. That gives Miami a chance to get at their AFC East rivals early, possibly before either team has found a rhythm, and it means they get rid of the possibility of playing those game sin the snow late in the season.

They will not completely miss the snow, however, as they do have to visit the Green Bay Packers in mid-November, giving a slight chance of snow, and they will probably see a snowy field in Week 17 when they end the regular season at the Buffalo Bills. Miami has two more potentially cold weather cities late in the year, with a Week 12 game at the Indianapolis Colts and a Week 15 game against the Minnesota Vikings - but those stadiums have roofs and the weather should not be a factor.

The Dolphins’ bye week is again slated for Week 11 (just like last year before Hurricane Irma threw the entire schedule out of sync), which means they should finally get to see a late-season break. Unfortunately, it is not tied into a game against the Packers or Patriots following it, but getting it a week before the Colts game should be fine. If Andrew Luck is able to rebound the Colts, it could prove to be well placed.

The end of the schedule could be a killer, with the Dolphins running a gauntlet of versus the Bills, versus the Patriots, at the Vikings, versus the Jacksonville Jaguars, and at the Bills - five straight weeks playing 2017 playoff teams. If Miami is going to make a charge for the postseason, they are going to have to prove it against some of the top teams from last year.

Overall, this schedule seems pretty neutral for the Dolphins. There could be some things that a change would improve, but they would also lose some of the benefits they have this year. Getting to play in Miami in September twice is two more times than they played at home last year in September - and they get those games against teams that traditionally have darker jerseys. They get the late-season bye week. They avoid some of the potential snow games, but they also do not get the division rivals in the heat in September.

Basically, it feel like an NFL schedule, with nothing to overly celebrate, but nothing to overly complain about either. What are your thoughts?