Dolphins In Prime Time

This is from the Sun Sentinel
By Harvey Fialkov | SunSentinel.com



Are you ready for prime-time football?

After having no games on national prime-time television for the first season in 39 years, the AFC East champion Dolphins return with with four evening games this season, including their home opener against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts on ESPN's Monday Night Football in Week 2.

Three weeks later, quarterback Chad Pennington will get another shot to beat his former team, the Jets, again on MNF at home. The third prime-time game takes the Dolphins to Carolina on Thursday, Nov. 19, on NFL Network. The Dolphins are 3-0 against the South Division champion Panthers.

They'll wrap up their prime-time schedule at home against a returning Tom Brady and the Patriots on Dec. 6 on NBC's Football Night in America.



Since their 11-5 season ended, the Dolphins knew they'd be facing the toughest schedule in the NFL based on their opponent's cumulative winning percentage of .594. Instead of facing the cream puffs from the NFC and AFC West again, they've got the tougher NFC and AFC South divisions, which had just one team under .500 last season (Jacksonville).

The sudden national attention stems from the Dolphins' remarkable 10-game turnaround that was orchestrated by vice president of football operations Bill Parcells, GM Jeff Ireland and first-year coach Tony Sparano.

"With the NFL scheduling us for four prime-time games this season, it reflects the national following the Dolphins have built over time and it's indicative of the progress we've made in the last year," Sparano said. "There certainly are some challenges. The schedule has several playoff teams from last year and conference opponents right at the top, so we need to be ready to go right from start, underlining the importance of our offseason program and training camp."

The Dolphins will begin their season on the road against the 11-5 Atlanta Falcons and blossoming quarterback Matt Ryan.

They'll then play four of their next five games at home, including divisional games against the Bills and recently acquired receiver Terrell Owens, and the aforementioned Monday night game against the Jets.

Sandwiched between the Colts' home opener and the two division games, the Dolphins will make their lone West Coast trip of the season to San Diego on Sept. 27. The Dolphins have won seven in a row against the Chargers, including last year's 17-10 victory.

Then it's a bye week before hosting the Saints for the first time since 1998. The Dolphins will play all four preseason opponents, including the Jaguars, Panthers, Bucs and Saints, in the regular season.

The Dolphins don't have a 1 p.m. home game until Nov. 15 against the Bucs, thus eliminating any home-field heat advantage in September. Conversely, both their road games with the Jets and Bills will be done before December. A Dec. 20 game in Nashville against the Titans (13-3) could be chilling in more ways than one.

The Dolphins finish the season with home games against Houston and the Super Bowl champion Steelers. Miami is 0-3 against the Texans, the only team in the NFL they've yet to beat, and has lost three straight to Pittsburgh.