Dolphins’ 2024 schedule leaks: Miami hosts Buffalo for early-season prime-time showdown
With the NFL set to announce its 2024 regular-season schedule Wednesday night, the Miami Dolphins had a matchup with the Buffalo Bills announced Tuesday.
After the Miami Dolphins’ regular season last year closed with the Buffalo Bills at home, the AFC East rivals will meet again in prime time at Hard Rock Stadium early in the 2024 season.
A Week 2 pairing between the Dolphins and Bills on Sept. 12 was announced by the NFL Tuesday morning ahead of Wednesday night’s full schedule release.
Coming on the second week of the regular season, the divisional clash will be the first “Thursday Night Football” game of the season, airing exclusively on Amazon Prime Video for viewers outside of the South Florida and Buffalo markets. In the opening week, the Baltimore Ravens face the Kansas City Chiefs on the season’s first Thursday night in a rematch of last year’s AFC Championship Game that airs on NBC.
With Miami-Buffalo being a night game, the Bills will dodge the September sun beaming on their sideline for their 2024 trip to Hard Rock Stadium, although it will still be a hot and humid environment for the team from western New York.
An early meeting in Miami Gardens likely means the Dolphins will visit Buffalo in the late-season cold next season.
It’s the first known game on the schedule for Miami before Wednesday night’s full release. The Dolphins’ opponents for their 2024 schedule, along with whether they will be home or away, are already known.
Getting their first one revealed Tuesday, the Dolphins, with a high-profile roster and ample intriguing storylines in 2024, are once again expected to get several national standalone games.
Miami’s 17-game schedule is comprised of home and away games against its three divisional foes in the AFC East, games against the entire AFC South and NFC West, plus opponents that finished in the same position in the AFC North and West and NFC North.
Here’s a breakdown of the remaining matchups:
at Buffalo Bills
Quarterback Josh Allen has been a thorn in Miami’s side in recent history. After getting swept by the four-time defending AFC East champs in 2023, the Dolphins have now lost 11 of their past 12 against Buffalo, including last season’s regular-season finale, costing Miami the division title and a home playoff game in the first round.
Vs./at New York Jets
The extreme intrigue that was expected from this rivalry in 2023 was put on hold for a year after quarterback Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles four plays into his initial campaign with the Jets. Miami swept a weakened New York team last season by a combined 51 points.
Vs./at New England Patriots
A rebuild continues in New England, and now with new coach Jerod Mayo replacing Bill Belichick and possibly a first look at Drake Maye in this rivalry. With little expectations for the Patriots, Dolphins need two wins out of this matchup.
Vs. Tennessee Titans
Miami will surely like to avenge last year’s Monday night debacle, blowing a two-touchdown lead with three minutes remaining, right back at Hard Rock Stadium. Mike Vrabel is no longer on the Tennessee sideline, though, as the Titans hired Brian Callahan and gave quarterback Will Levis wide receivers Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd, plus Tony Pollard in the backfield to replace Derrick Henry.
Vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
Tua Tagovailoa against Trevor Lawrence for the second time as professionals. The 2021 meeting was in London. It’s also a rematch of the 2018 college football title game. The Jaguars have a 6-5 edge in the series between in-state AFC foes.
At Houston Texans
These two teams met for joint practices and a preseason game last year. The Texans have since made a surprising run to win the AFC South last season, win a playoff game and then bolster the roster in free agency around budding quarterback C.J. Stroud. Does Stefon Diggs have as much success with Houston against Miami as he did the past four years with Buffalo?
At Indianapolis Colts
The old AFC East rivals meet again for the first time in three years and first time in Indianapolis since 2019. The Dolphins get a regular-season meeting against the team that was on the wrong end of their last playoff win way back in 2000. Miami will work on changing that factoid come January.
Vs. Las Vegas Raiders
One benefit of missing out on the AFC East title: The Dolphins host the AFC West’s second-place Raiders instead of the defending Super Bowl-champion Chiefs. Defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, after fleeing to Vegas in free agency, makes his return to Hard Rock Stadium on the visitors’ sideline.
At Cleveland Browns
Also because Miami didn’t win the division over Buffalo, the Dolphins visit the Browns instead of a third consecutive year with a road game in Baltimore. Tagovailoa goes up against the quarterback former coach Brian Flores wanted over him, Deshaun Watson, in the team’s first trip to Cleveland in five years.
Vs. San Francisco 49ers
Fire up all the storylines between coaches Mike McDaniel and Kyle Shanahan, who have been on the same coaching staffs for 14 NFL seasons for five different organizations, including Shanahan’s first five as head coach with the 49ers. Shanahan got the better of McDaniel two years ago when they met in Santa Clara. These franchises, in what’s also a rematch of the Dolphins’ last Super Bowl appearance following the 1984 season, meet in Miami Gardens for the first time since 2016.
Vs. Arizona Cardinals
One of Tagovailoa’s first great performances came against Kyler Murray in Arizona in the middle of his rookie season in 2020. The two meet again for the first time since. Miami is 10-3 all-time against the Cardinals.
At Los Angeles Rams
It’s the third consecutive season the Dolphins visit SoFi Stadium, the last two to play at the Chargers. The Dolphins have won five in a row against the Rams, the last loss coming in St. Louis in 2001, and are 12-2 overall against the franchise. Tagovailoa’s first start and win came at home versus the Rams in 2020.
At Seattle Seahawks
The longest travel in the NFL goes against the Dolphins in 2024. If Miami gets the Seahawks and Rams games on consecutive weekends, as it usually requests in cases involving two games on the Pacific coast, it may spend the week in between practicing out west. With Seattle previously in the AFC, this opponent holds the distinction of being the Dolphins’ second-to-last victim in a playoff win, coming after the 1999 season to close out the old Kingdome.
At Green Bay Packers
This is the “17th game,” if you will, of the schedule — not in that it would be played Week 18 (that’s a divisional game), but that it’s the extra matchup from the NFL’s previous 16-game format. The Dolphins and Packers both finished second in their divisions last season, and that creates the first meeting of these 2020 draft quarterbacks, Tagovailoa and Jordan Love. Miami lost at home on Christmas Day to Green Bay last time the teams faced off, and visit Lambeau Field for the first time since 2018.