Dolphins schedule 2022: Thanksgiving in Detroit?

The Miami Dolphins have appeared in a Thanksgiving Day game seven times in their history, five times against the Dallas Cowboys, once against the Detroit Lions, and once against the St. Louis Cardinals, going 5-2 in those games. Could the team be headed toward an eighth appearance on the holiday in 2022?

Miami last played on Thanksgiving in 2011, losing to the Cowboys 20-19. They last headed to Detroit in 2006 for a Thanksgiving showdown, winning that contest 27-10. Taking a look at the Dolphins’ 2022 slate of opponents, there are the Lions as an away game for the Dolphins. Despite 20 years of struggles, the Dolphins are still a team with a large enough national fanbase that the NFL could look to match them up on Thanksgiving with the Lions.

The NFL is expected to release the entire 2022 regular season schedule on Thursday. Ahead of that, Vice President of NFL Broadcast Planning Michael North spoke with the Los Angeles Times’ Sam Farmer to discuss how the schedule is built. North revealed the NFL is back to rotating an AFC team between the Lions and the Cowboys for the traditional Thanksgiving matchup, with the Cowboys having hosted the Las Vegas Raiders last year. That sets up the Lions to host an AFC opponent this year, and they only have the Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills, and the Jacksonville Jaguars on their slate. North acknowledged to Farmer that the league is looking toward the Bills and Dolphins as possibilities, which probably makes sense since the Jaguars already have their London game as a mid-day showcase event.

The Bills are definitely a team that could get the national attention right now as they continue to rank among the NFL elite. They have been on Thanksgiving 10 times, going 5-4-1 in those games. However, they were on Thanksgiving last year, beating the New Orleans Saints 31-6 in the night game, and they beat the Dallas Cowboys 26-15 during the 2019 Thanksgiving schedule. Will the NFL put the Bills on Thanksgiving two years in a row and for a third time in four years?

It feels like, as much as the league has liked to showcase the Bills over the past few seasons, they likely would prefer to have them in more primetime games during the season, giving the Thanksgiving slot to another team.

And that other team is the Dolphins.

Are the Dolphins headed to Detroit for Thanksgiving? It sure seems like it.