The Miami Dolphins are going to be putting their homefield advantage to the test in Week 2 of the 2021 NFL regular season. When Miami faced off against the Buffalo Bills in Week 17 to close down the 2020 regular season, Buffalo’s homefield advantage as a cold-weather team in January was absolutely a factor that helped the game get off the rails.
Now is the time to return the favor. The forecast in South Florida for Sunday afternoon calls for plenty of heat and even more humidity.
Location: Hard Rock Stadium — Miami Gardens, FL
Kickoff: 1:05 PM EST
- High Temperature: 87 degrees
- Percent rain: 40%
- Humidity: 66%
- Feels like: 97 degrees
- Wind: 7 mph
Meanwhile, Buffalo has had just two days in the past two weeks combined that have featured a high temperature greater than 80 degrees. Miami’s recipe for a successful game against the Bills is going to need a dozen variables to go right — but getting out in front of the Bills early and keeping pressure applied as the Bills strain against both the weather conditions and Miami’s efforts to win the game could be the ticket to draining Buffalo’s energy reserves sooner rather than later and cracking the code against the Bills.
Of course, Miami had much of this script come together last year — the team entered the fourth quarter with a narrow lead before crumbling over a 10-minute stretch of the final mark to cough up the game; highlighted by a deep 3rd-down conversion by QB Josh Allen to score what would eventually be the deciding points.
The Dolphins have to hope their offseason efforts are enough to create a different outcome this time around; but at least we know the weather is set to do its part to help craft a Dolphins win and push South Florida football fans into a frenzy to start the 2021 season.