With the schedule coming out in a few weeks, its always an exciting time. We know that the Fins will be playing at London vs New Orleans on October 1st, and now know that the game will be at 9:30am EST. We also know that the Fins have asked to NOT have the bye after that game, but rather closer to the middle of the season, and would like to open at home. Here's what I would like to see, given the choice: Week 1, Thursday Sep 7th: At New England. Get the away game at New England early, and on a national stage. We're going to have a hard time with that game no matter when its played, so why not give Gase more time to plan, go into the game as healthy as we're likely to be all season, and have more time to rest before Week 2. Week 2: Home vs New Jersey Jets. Start off the home schedule vs a bad Jets team. Regardless of the outcome of the Week 1 game, a blowout in Week 2 at home will have the team and the fans feeling good about the rest of the season. Week 3: AT Buffalo. Similar to the New England game, get the potential cold weather trip to Buffalo out of the way early. I also don't want to "waste" too many of our seven home games early in the year. Week 4: AT London, vs New Orleans. This one is written in stone. Hopefully, this will be the last time that we get screwed over this way for a while. Week 5: Home vs Oakland. Its only fair that after traveling across the sea to play a home game the previous week, that we make the Raiders fly across the county to face us in Miami the next week. Week 6: AT Baltimore. Nice to get another potential cold weather game out of the way in October. Baltimore is always a tough venue, and giving them one fewer advantage would be nice. Week 7: AT LA Chargers. The Chargers should be a fairly poor team this season, and have next to no home field advantage, playing in a 30k soccer stadium. Get this trip out of the way. Week 8: BYE Week 9: Home vs Buffalo. Good to come out of the BYE having two weeks to plan for a divisional opponent, and start momentum for the second half of the season. So far, this leaves us with 4 home and 4 road games the rest of the way. Week 10: Home vs Denver. Matchup with old buddy Vance Joseph and his Broncos. Week 11: AT New Jersey Jets. Get the last trip to the Northeast out of the way before Thanksgiving. Week 12: AT Kansas City. Final potential cold weather game out of the way before December. Week 13: Home, vs Tampa Bay. Back to back home games vs teams that look to be weaker on paper than Miami to start December. Week 14: Home vs Tennessee. See above. Week 15: AT Carolina. Weather shouldn't be too much of a factor in Charlotte. Week 16: AT Atlanta. Final road trip of the regular season a short one to the defending NFC champs. Dome game means nice weather. Week 17. Home, vs New England. Finish the year at home vs the Pats. Potentially for the division title. There you have my ideas. What are yours?
The only issue I have with all the away games up front is that we give away our Home field advantage with the heat and humidity in the Sept./Oct games.
I don't disagree that our best (only, really) home field advantage is the early season 1pm home games. I have long lamented the fact that the league pushed back the start of the regular season, robbing us of more of that advantage. This is especially true if we can face a team from the North who's from outside of the AFC East. However, with us only having seven home games this year, I think that jamming them into the early part of the season is short sighted. Plus, we all know that we struggle in cold weather games, so having more late season road trips, especially within the division, is asking for trouble.
The NFL will be sure to give Miami a divisional road game in the snow. Actually we will be lucky if we only get 1 like that.
We are guaranteed a week 5 bye. Teams that travel to London get the next week off. I would be happy to drive/fly down to LA to see the Chargers game, Oakland might even be OK this time around. Last trip to Oakland was rather scary. Those are going to be my best shots at seeing a live game this year. Better to have those games in Nov /Dec too. I might be able to make it to Denver or KC, first live Phins game I ever watched was in Mile High. Not making it to SoFla this year for sure. We always seem to get Bills Jets and Patsies in the last 4/5 weeks, two of them at home so the Northerners can come get some sun and go see da mouse for Xmas,
You can add Denver and KC to the list of probables for that. One of those two will be the week 13-14 game I think.
Oakland is at home this year. I probably will not go to a game this season. I haven't been to one since I became a dad in 2011. However, if I did, Carolina would be the most likely.
I think that's the rule but maybe he can get around it. Good for him if so. That's a good coach if he does get it. And even if he doesn't...gotta ask or you never get!
Well, I'll have lots of fun with the local black holers and my lonely self at my local watering hole then. Luckily most of them are old friends by now.
would like to start 3 of 4 at home, including London as a home. Would like to have game one at home. I think starting well is something this team needs to do and hasn't done so in years
For the most part, I try to just ignore that New England exists. We need to do the best that we can with the other 14 games on the schedule. Putting them on the ends makes that easier.
a loss to them to end the season could have another trickle down effect. How about weeks like 5 and 10?
I'm not sure what you mean there, unless you suggest that a loss could keep us from a WC spot. If so, then a loss in week 5 would have the exact same effect. I don't think that a loss to anyone, including New England, should have an effect on how the team would potentially play in a playoff game, if you're thinking that it would have a negative psychological reaction on the team. The benefit of playing them at the very end is that they either have a playoff spot locked up, and may rest guys vs us, or they don't have one locked up, which means that we're still in play for the division. Either way, thats good news to us.
what I am saying is I want to start w a win. A cake if you want to be specific. And after playing NE, and potentially getting our snot knocked out, we would need more than a week to fix things. we play them the last game, and have toplay the next week, it's Pittsburgh all over again
Over the past 5 years we have split with NE in 3 of those years so I, for one, always feel as if we have a chance against them.
We've done about as well vs them as anyone else in the league, and generally with inferior personell and coaching. Under Gase, I think that we'll generally have a good shot. Defense is going to be the key the next two years.
LMAO, that's what I was going to say. I'll settle for 4 against the Browns, 4 against San Fran and two games each against the Bills, Pats and Jets.
Further, we've beaten them 3 of the last 4 at home. I personally love having them week one at home and week 17 on the road...I'd take that every year.
