The Miami Dolphins have already seen their schedule change once — a move forced by the league’s scheduling conflicts amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos struggled to find a clean window to play. Miami saw their entire month of November turned on its head as a result, although the net exchange may end up being a positive for the Dolphins if their health carries through the final 10 games. An earlier than expected bye week can be a tough pill to swallow if one is forced into a Week 3 or Week 4 commitment — but Miami’s came at Week 7. Now it’s time to play ball.
For the Los Angeles Rams, there are no lucky bounces with the schedule. Credit to this team for their ability to get to 5-2 at this point despite a challenging landscape of travel, but could this finally be the week that the travel schedule catches up to the Rams?
Veteran left tackle Andrew Whitworth spoke this week about the Rams’ schedule and acknowledged it was a challenging gauntlet and that this week’s short week and cross-country travel are not an easy variable.
Whitworth has been around a long, long time but said that this year’s Rams travel schedule has been the most brutal in his memory considering trip-to-game-to-recovery process.
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 29, 2020
The Rams are 2-2 on the road this season and 2-1 when playing in the eastern time zone, their losses this season coming against the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers. After this game, half of the Rams’ games will be played on the east coast. The Rams and Dolphins both lost to Buffalo by a final margin of 3 points — although Miami was able to avoid the 28-3 deficit that Buffalo put the Rams into through the first 40 minutes before the Rams flipped the switch and came nearly all the way back.
If this latest trip east causes the Rams to be off their game, even in the slightest, the Dolphins will be grateful for the advantage. At the end of the day, execution is still the name of the game and Miami must play at a high level to secure a win. But knowing coming in that the Rams do know this is a tough task and a tall order should give Miami the sense of blood in the water and the eagerness to start fast.