Miami Dolphins 2020 Expectations

The the Miami Dolphins 2020 NFL schedule has been officially released yesterday and since it’s futile to predict a win/loss total right now, I’ll just spare you from giving a prediction. There is plenty of time for that, we first need to find out when and if they will even play.

After enduring the 2019 season that we all knew the Dolphins had made a conscious decision to basically tear the team down to the studs and rebuild, and after the Dolphins used all their resources having the most capital of any team and more draft picks than any team this year, we see the nucleus of the roster at the early stage of the rebuild, year two.

So I thought this might be a good time for a brief review of the off-season and talk about expectations. What should we realistically expect from the Miami Dolphins in 2020?

The answer has a lot to do with their schedule and according to reports the Dolphins have the third toughest schedule in the NFL (.529), that’s the opponents that they face based off their win-loss record compared to Miami’s win loss record from last season.

They face 5 teams that made the playoffs last season. two twice so 7 games will be against playoff teams from last season. ( Buffalo, New England, Seattle, San Francisco, Kansas City)

2020 schedule (Home Games In Bold)

Week 1, Sept. 13: Miami at New England, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 2, Sept. 20: Miami vs. Buffalo, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 3, Sept. 24: Miami at Jacksonville, 8:20 p.m. (TNF NFL Network)
Week 4, Oct. 4: Miami vs. Seattle, 1 p.m. (FOX)
Week 5, Oct. 11: Miami at S.F 49ers, 4:05 p.m. (FOX)
Week 6, Oct. 18: Miami at Denver, 4:05 p.m. (CBS)
Week 7, Oct. 25: Miami vs. L.A. Chargers, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 8, Nov. 1: Miami vs. L.A. Rams, 1 p.m. (FOX)
Week 9, No. 8: Miami at Arizona, 4:05 p.m. (CBS)
Week 10, Nov. 15: Miami vs. New York Jets, 4:05 p.m. (CBS)
Week 11, BYE
Week 12, Nov. 28: Miami at New York Jets, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 13, Dec. 6: Miami vs. Cincinnati, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 14, Dec. 13: Miami vs. K.C Chiefs, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 15, Dec. 20: Miami vs. New England, 1 p.m. (CBS)
Week 16, Dec. 26/7: Miami at L.V Raiders, TBD
Week 17, Jan. 3: Miami at Buffalo, 1 p.m. (CBS)

In addition to their own division the Miami Dolphins will face the AFC and NFC West divisions as well as (Cincinnati & Jacksonville) no easy task at all. There will be higher expectations for the 2020 Miami Dolphins than last season.

For me I can take another 5 wins or less for the 2020 Dolphins season because I want Miami to once again get a top 10 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. I know many of you might not be in agreement with my feelings but I have plenty of time to write future articles supporting my stance.

For now let’s take the schedule and think about REALISTIC expectations, for me it is a return to mediocrity but the difference is it will be a reflection of the Dolphins Arrow pointing North rather than East or West.

Last season was a season that opened plenty of eyes when it came to Miami’s first year head coach Brian Flores, despite a false narrative of the team tanking Brian Flores held true to his response to that narrative:

“The term tanking, I think it’s disrespectful to the game, I really do. I don’t like that term. I don’t like when people use it. This game has done a lot for me, personally. Football has really leveled the playing field for me as a person. It’s really the one thing that leveled the playing field so to disrespect the game and use that term, it stirs something up inside of me, to put that nicely.”… “There’s no tanking. You can write that over and over and over again,”

Even GM Chris Grier backed up his HC and said:

“There’s no tanking,” … “It’s hard when you say you want tough, competitive guys who love ball and you bring them in and say, ‘Hey, let’s not do it this year. Let’s just relax and enjoy this year and we’ll come back next year and be tough and competitive.'”

Unfortunately the start of the 2019 season seemed to back up the rumors of Miami tanking as they started off the season with their worse start in the Dolphins history getting blown out their first four games with a combine total of 163 points given up while only scoring 26 points in total. (Average loss 41-7!)

Miami started to be competitive after the 4th game and things started to change as the Dolphins would win 5 out of their last 9 games and ended the season on a good note beating New England in their house in a game they really needed to get a bye before entering the playoffs, winning up in New England was something they had failed to do since September 21, 2008.

The 2020 Off-season for Miami has been considered a success by many, in both free agency and the draft the Dolphins focused on strengthening the offensive and defensive lines and oh by the way Miami was also able to still get the QB many thought the Dolphins was tanking for with the 5th pick in the NFL draft as they cleverly maneuvered their way into the draft despite a lot of smoke-screens and drafted QB Tua Tagovailoa who many feel posses the qualities to be a franchise QB in the NFL. (See Poll Question)

Expectations are high, and with the talent Miami has acquired this off-season and the departure of Tom Brady from the AFC East, many feel the division is wide open with The Bills a slight favorite to overtake New England’s stranglehold on the division over the past two decades! I will believe it when I see because I am not ready to bet against Bill Belichick just yet, especially when New England swept Buffalo last year.

I do expect the division to be a closer race and any one of the teams in our division can compete for the title.

What do you think about our schedule?

Chime in the comment section and let us know.

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