Miami Dolphins will be just fine with 16 game stretch

The Miami Dolphins will play 16 games in a row this year. So will the Buccaneers. Miami will also play in London and there are some, who think that game should come back home.

There was a time when football was 16 weeks long with no bye weeks. In fact it was actually 20 weeks long as there was no break between the four pre-season games and the start of the regular season. Back then, two-a-day practices were non-monitored full contact practices.

So has the new modern-day NFL gone soft? No but players can handle it. They are conditioned to handle it even if they don’t want to. In 1992 the Dolphins lost their bye week and finished 11-5 to win the division.

Hey life is a bitch we know. This hurricane is worse than that. The Dolphins I assure you will be fine.

Some are saying, o.k. so some are agreeing with Miami Herald beat writer Armando Salguero who wrote a piece about how the NFL should move the game against New Orleans back to Miami. As a favor to the Dolphins. As a “hurricane relief” of sorts. It makes for an emotional entertaining read but it won’t happen.

Sure the NFL could say, “Miami you have been through enough! No travel to England”, but they won’t and they shouldn’t. The Dolphins have plans in place for the trip to London and it is very possible that the South Florida area is recovering from the hurricane. Does Miami really expect Dolphins fans to show up if their homes are destroyed?

Another week could really help the community.

No matter how you slice this pie up it is about money and I can’t, no one can spit it any other way. There is money to be made in London, there is money to be made at home, there is money that will be spent in both countries. While having another “home” game actually at home is great, what about the 1,000 of fans who have booked travel from around Europe that won’t get that money back? What about the fans in the U.S. who have booked travel to London?

There is no moral compass to move the game back to Miami. This is all a tough break. It’s a tough break with Tannehill, with McMillan, with Lippett. It’s a tough break not open the season at home like the NFL had planned. It’s a tough break that there won’t be a bye week.

So get tough. Handle it. Do your job. If the Dolphins are a next man up team then these hiccups should be next up as well. You deal with it. Don’t think for a moment that Adam Gase is going to give his guys a pass because of tough breaks.

Miami can use this to their benefit. A winning streak won’t have to be interrupted by a bye week. Momentum can carry week to week and only the Dolphins can turn this into a negative. Miami can use this as bulletin board material. They can strive off of it instead of whining about it.

They can fight like hell to earn that bye week when it really matters, the first week of the post-season. The schedule will not defeat Miami and neither will the travel. It will make the tougher. It will allow us to see who this team really is. They can tank it or attack it. My guess is they will attack it.

This is not in their control but the season’s outcome is. Miami will be just fine. If they need excuses about traveling to London, losing a bye week, and whatever else this season is going to throw at them, then they are not good enough to make the post-season.