Tag: 2020 schedule

The Detroit Lions have been eliminated from 2020 Playoff contention

It’s official, the Detroit Lions have been eliminated from 2020 Playoff contention.

It’s official, the Detroit Lions have been eliminated from 2020 Playoff contention.

After falling 46-25 to the Tennessee Titans in Week 15, the Lions record dropped to 5-9 overall, and the postseason is mathematically out of reach. This marks the fourth season in a row the Lions have missed the dance.

With two home games remaining on their schedule (Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Minnesota Vikings), many Lions players will be playing their final games in Detroit, while others will looking to put as much good game film on tape for the next general manager/coaching staff to evaluate.

Currently, the Lions sit 10th in the 2021 NFL draft order and a quick examination of the remaining schedule is a strong indicator the Lions will stay in the top-8 to -12 draft slots. But, if they get a lot of help, they could potentially reach as high as the top-5.

While the season is coming to a close, make sure you stay with Lions Wire during our coverage of the Lions general manager and coaching searches, our upcoming evaluation of the roster, as well as our Free Agency and NFL draft coverage.

Bills’ remaining strength of schedule heading into bye

How the Buffalo Bills’ remaining strength of schedule looks heading into their bye week.

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The Buffalo Bills will not play in Week 11. Unfortunately their last-second loss to the Arizona Cardinals, 32-30, is going to stick in their minds for awhile. Still, the Bills (7-3) earned their rest.

Once Week 12 rolls around, the Bills will have six more games to get after it. Regardless of how the Miami Dolphins (6-3) do in Week 11 while  Buffalo isn’t playing, it’s still going to be a tight race for the AFC East from here on out. Should be fun.

So now onto the all important question, how difficult is the Bills’ remaining strength of schedule once they do get back to the gridiron? Just two weeks ago, the Bills had the fourth-hardest schedule left. Now that number has dropped to the middle of the pack.

According to Tankathon, the Bills have the 13th hardest remaining strength of schedule. But the downside is that the Dolphins unfortunately have a bit easier ride with the 20th spot locked up.

Here’s the full rankings of the NFL’s remaining strength of schedule based on opponent records:

1. Falcons (.677)
2. Jaguars (.661)
3. Broncos (.600)
4. Jets (.471)
5. Eagles (.571)
6. Texans (.532)
7. Chiefs (.531)
8. Giants (.528)
9. 49ers (.527)
10. Colts (.524)
11. Lions (.516)
12. Bucs (.509)
13. Bills (.509)
14. Titans (.508)
15. Packers (.508)
16. Rams (.508)
17. Cardinals (.500)
18. Panthers (.491)
19. Chargers (.484)
20. Dolphins (.477)
21. Steelers (.477)
22. Bengals (.469)
23. Washington (.462)
24. Ravens (.461)
25. Vikings (.459)
26. Patriots (.453)
27. Browns (.445)
28. Raiders (.444)
29. Bears (.443)
30. Saints (.421)
31. Seahawks (.377)
32. Cowboys (.375)

Note: Vikings, Bears calculated prior to Week 10’s Monday Night Football meeting.

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Miami Dolphins ‘strength of schedule’ outlines hope for rest of 2020

Miami Dolphins ‘strength of schedule’ outlines hope for rest of 2020

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.

NFL postpones the Titans-Steelers game and how it impacts the Browns

The Browns play both Tennessee and Pittsburgh (twice) later this season

The NFL has officially moved the Week 4 matchup between the Tennessee Titans and Pittsburgh Steelers off the calendar for this week. An outbreak of COVID-19 among several Titans players and coaches forced the NFL to postpone the game to a later date.

That later date has yet to be determined, and that could wind up impacting the Cleveland Browns.

Cleveland is scheduled to face the Steelers in Weeks 6 and 17 and the Titans in Nashville in Week 13. Those don’t figure to change, but the state in which the opposing teams enter those games could be quite different.

One of the potential solutions is to move the Steelers-Ravens battle in the AFC North from Week 7 to Week 8 and play the makeup game with Pittsburgh in Tennessee in Week 7. The Steelers bye week is scheduled for Week 8, as is Baltimore’s, so that makes the most sense without impact too many other teams.

If that happens, the Browns catch the Steelers in Pittsburgh after their bye (this week) instead of leading into it. Pittsburgh hosts 0-2-1 Philadelphia in Week 5 before Cleveland visits the following Sunday. It also means a much longer time between the Browns trip to Nashville and the Titans’ scheduled bye week in Week 7. That’s an advantage for the Browns.

The Browns have their bye week in Week 9.

Final 2020 Miami Dolphins schedule and record prediction

Final 2020 Miami Dolphins schedule and record prediction

What will the Miami Dolphins’ 2020 season look like? The Dolphins’ roster is drastically different than the last one that took the field in Foxborough against the New England Patriots for a successful final contest of 2019. Will it yield results on the field? This season will not be a true “evaluation” year as much as what 2019 was. But it will serve as a critical year of growth for Miami in their bid to transition from a rebuilding underdog into a young contender.

Here is our final forecast for the Miami Dolphins’ 2020 season!

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Week 1: @ New England Patriots

The Dolphins have the advantage of familiarity with the Patriots’ coaching staff thanks to Brian Flores’ time in New England. But the Dolphins have a ton of new pieces to work with and have not had a lot of time to gel, especially up front on the offensive line against Bill Belichick’s pressure looks.

Prediction: Patriots – 20, Dolphins – 17 (0-1)

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Notre Dame Football: 3 game series with South Florida announced

Notre Dame won’t be playing South Florida just once in the years to come, but 3 times.

It won’t just be a replacement for the makeshift 2020 schedule that South Florida will be a part of with Notre Dame but instead a series the Fighting Irish and Bulls will begin on September 19.

South Florida announced the news we had seen reported a week or so ago, that the Bulls football team would be coming to Notre Dame on September 19 of this season.

In addition, the announcement states that Notre Dame will be taking on South Florida in their home confines of Raymond James Stadium, also home to the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a future date, as well as the Bulls making a second trip in the future to Notre Dame.

That game will be Notre Dame’s first in Raymond James Stadium, and we’re all aware of how much pride the program takes in playng

Notre Dame and South Florida have played just once before as the Bulls upset then No. 16 Notre Dame to open the 2011 season in South Bend.  For what its worth, it was the maddest I’ve ever left Notre Dame Stadium as a fan.

It’s also worth throwing South Florida some props for their scheduling in the future as Florida, Alabama, Louisville, North Carolina State, Boise State and Miami (FL) are also scheduled to play at Raymond James Stadium in the next eight years.

Related:  The eight teams Notre Dame football has played but never beaten (hint – a team mentioned in this piece is on the list)

 

Notre Dame Football: The maddest I’ve ever left Notre Dame Stadium

With reports out that Notre Dame will be squaring off with South Florida on September 19, flashbacks immediately came to me from the epic disaster that was that Saturday afternoon.

I’m happy to say I’ve been able to spend countless hours in ballparks, arenas and stadiums across this entire country.  I’ve seen my teams pull upsets, clinch championships and suffer plenty of heartbreaking and blowout defeats.

I’ve never been as mad leaving a game in my life as I was on September 3, 2011, though.

With reports out that Notre Dame will be squaring off with South Florida on September 19, flashbacks immediately came to me from the epic disaster that was that Saturday afternoon.

After a 1-3 and 4-5 start in 2010, Notre Dame won their final three regular season games, including their first win over USC in nearly a decade, before obliterating Miami (FL) in the Sun Bowl.

The improvement the team made that year was clear and the hype began to follow the Irish a bit as the entered the season ranked 16th overall in the nation.

To open that season South Florida came to town and pretty much everything that could wrong, went wrong for Notre Dame that day.

As Dayne Crist was about to put an exclamation point on the opening drive with a touchdown, Jonas Gray fumbled and saw Kayvon Webster run it back 96 yards for a South Florida touchdown.

Early in the second quarter the Irish were again about to get on the scoreboard when a Crist pass deflected off of the hands of TJ Jones and was intercepted in the end zone for a Bulls touchback.

Theo Riddick would get in on the action before halftime as he muffed a punt that was recovered by USF and led to a Bulls field goal and their eventual 16-0 halftime lead.

Rains and thunderstorms would come and Notre Dame would finally wake up a bit behind Tommy Rees who threw for nearly 300 yards off the bench, but five turnovers did the Domers in that afternoon and my blood still boils thinking about how dumb that loss was.

Notre Dame out-gained USF that day 508-254.  For the most part they dominated.

Unfortunately that included in the turnover department where the Irish finished with five to USF’s zero.

It was a dumb loss, maddening and quickly deflated the high hopes of 2011 while the lightning delays only made matters worse.

I’ve never walked out of a stadium so mad about what I had just watched in my life.  I’m glad life has changed my perspective on sports a bit since.

A week later things would only get worse as the Irish would gift Michigan a game that still makes no sense.

With Duke and South Florida to start the season this year, Notre Dame fans will see those names and remember a few awful memories from September home games in somewhat recent seasons.

Let’s hope that this time USF’s new head coach Jeff Scott is the one turning purple on the sideline, and not Brian Kelly.

If for some god-forsaken reason you’d like to re-live that 2011 contest you can do so here, courtesy of “The Vault: ND on NBC”.

Related:  The eight teams Notre Dame football has played but never beaten (hint – a team mentioned in this piece is on the list)

USA TODAY forecasts Dolphins’ 2020 season record

USA TODAY forecasts Dolphins’ 2020 season record

This year’s NFL season will be unlike any in memory. There will be ups and downs and the ever-looming presence of a global pandemic playing out in the background. Early returns on COVID-19 testing across the league are promising, indicating that the league and players have found proper protocols and discipline to see this season get started on schedule.

But what will the results on the field look like? The offseason preparations are effectively the wild, wild west this year — players are scrambling to make up for lost time and the NFL is just weeks away from the first scheduled game and have had two days (three today) of padded practices.

The lack of reps could not have come for a worse time for the Dolphins. This is a young, hungry team — but with so many new pieces they desperately need as many reps as possible to help establish chemistry between the old and new pieces alike.

Forecasting this season is a chore because of all the unknown — but USA TODAY has done exactly that. The Miami Dolphins? The forecast is calling for a 3rd-place finish in the AFC East, a full four games ahead of the hated New York Jets (and three games out of first place in the AFC East).

The Jets have lost notable talent this summer — leaving them primed to finish in the cellar when you add in the worst coach in the division in Adam Gase. For Miami, the team would finish outside of the top-10 teams in the conference; which would be circumstances that see the ball bounce against the Dolphins’ fortunes several times despite the 2-game improvement in wins from 2019.

On the bright side, the forecast also calls for the Texans to finish the season at 7-9 — the Dolphins own their first and second round picks in the 2021 NFL Draft. If the USA TODAY forecast becomes reality, Miami would own two top-12 picks in each of the first two rounds next April. But that is a ways away, and we have a season to play. Here’s hoping the Dolphins can overachieve versus expectations, much like they did last year. Doing so would give Miami important games in late December for the second straight year, although this time around for a very different set of reasons.

Texas QB Sam Ehlinger expresses initial reactions to upcoming season

During media availability on Tuesday, Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger voiced his opinions on the upcoming season.

Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger did not shy away from letting his opinions be heard on Tuesday. Continue reading “Texas QB Sam Ehlinger expresses initial reactions to upcoming season”

No Notre Dame/Navy for first time since 1926

There will be no Notre Dame/Navy game this fall for the first time in almost a century. The uniqueness of all of it will be missed in 2020.

It may be one of the most lopsided rivalries in all of sports and it may not feel like your traditional rivalry filled with dislike, disrespect and hate, but Notre Dame and Navy have played football every fall against each other since 1927.

That unfortunately won’t be the case this fall, however.

With the nationwide pandemic due to COVID-19 and the conferences of college football scurrying to put together a plan for the year, Notre Dame joined the ACC for the 2020 season.

Part of the ACC guidelines were that member schools could play just one out-of-conference game and that one game had to be played in the ACC member schools home state.

As a result, Notre Dame and Navy, which was set to be played in Annapolis, Maryland this September, is now off.

It’s the first time since 1926 that these two won’t meet on the football field.

I know the Navy game is one that Notre Dame seemingly has nothing to gain from:

  • An offense that is equal parts unique and physical that is nothing like Notre Dame plays against the entire rest of the season.
  • A national perception that a win means nothing, even if its in blowout fashion over a ranked opponent, like was the case when Notre Dame beat No. 23 Navy 52-20 in 2019.
  • Lose and jokes will be made about it literally over a decade later.

Yeah there are negatives that come with it.  It’s also tradition and something that unless you’re knocking on the door of the century mark in years, you haven’t seen before.

That’s not to say some traditions aren’t worth re-examining, see the end of the Notre Dame series with Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue in the last decade.

Notre Dame and Navy might not be the most thrilling of rivalries and it may not get your blood boiling like when USC or Michigan are in town, but it’s a tradition that has been going on seemingly forever and I’m sad to see everything from the different feel on campus that game day to the playing of the Alma maters after the game vanish for this fall.

Here’s to hoping things get back to normal  with these two in 2021.