This is hardly the way anyone wanted to see the Miami Dolphins’ season open up. At 1-3 there is an understandable sense of frustration from everyone in the organization — whether that be from the coaches, the player or even the fans from the outside looking in. The Dolphins have been a sore spot in the past for failing to live up to expectations, so the high of ending 2019 in Foxborough, then improving the team and coming out 1-3 has some Dolphins fans sensing deja vu.
“Here we go again!”
Make no mistake — this Dolphins team and organization is very different than the one we’ve seen over the last decade in South Florida. And progress is afoot, even if it isn’t showing up in the win column yet. And the good news for Miami is that it is almost impossible for the team’s schedule to get any harder than what it was through Weeks 1-4.
According to Pro Football Reference, the Dolphins had the NFL’s third most difficult schedule in the NFL through the first four weeks of the season — trailing only the New England Patriots (2-1 and playing the Kansas City Chiefs tonight) and the Las Vegas Raiders (2-2). In a perfect world, Miami would have pulled out a win between the Buffalo and Seattle contests. But both are quarterbacked by MVP-caliber players in Josh Allen and Russell Wilson — and so as it usually goes in the NFL, elite quarterbacks break the script of the game.
The next 8 games for the Dolphins don’t feature any elite quarterbacks — they’re currently scheduled to face the following signal callers between now and the final quarter of the season in December:
- Jimmy Garoppolo
- Drew Lock/Brett Rypien
- Justin Herbert (rookie)
- Jared Goff
- Kyler Murray
- Sam Darnold (twice)
- Joe Burrow (rookie)
Miami’s teams as a whole in the first quarter of the season combined for a 11-4 record (with tonight’s Chiefs/Patriots decision still pending). The record of Miami’s next four teams is 7-9. The schedule can only soften up from here. And, if we’re lucky, the wins will start to match Miami’s improvements as a team sooner rather than later.