Dolphins 2024 Week 15 Rooting Guide

The Miami Dolphins' hopes for a playoff push this season got a boost last weekend thanks not only to their victory against the New York Jets but also thanks to the Kansas City Chiefs defeating the Los Angeles Chargers in the Sunday night game.
The Dolphins are 6-7 heading into their final five games: at Houston, at home against San Francisco, at Cleveland, and at the Jets.
THE DOLPHINS AND THE AFC STANDINGS
The Dolphins currently are tied for eighth in the AFC standings with the Indianapolis Colts, two games behind current wild-card placeholders Baltimore, L.A. Chargers and Denver Broncos, along with AFC South leader and Week 15 opponent Houston.
As has been the case for a few weeks now, it still appears we're looking at four tiers of AFC teams, with the Kansas City Chief and Buffalo Bills having already clinched a playoff spot and the Pittsburgh Stelers soon to follow at 10-3.
Then we have the Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans, Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos all with eight wins and looking in good shape.
Six teams — the New England Patriots, Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders — already have been eliminated from playoff contention, and the Cincinnati Bengals are barely hanging on at 5-8.
So the task for the Dolphins if they hope to make the playoffs is to overtake one of the current wild-card leaders and/or the runner-up in the AFC South.
The byes are now done for the 2024 regular season, so it's a full slate of games every weekend the rest of the way and the Dolphins absolutely could use and get some big-time help this weekend.
THE TEAMS THE DOLPHINS MOST WANT TO SEE WIN IN WEEK 15
Tampa Bay (at L.A. Chargers), Sunday, 4:25 PM ET
The Buccaneers currently lead the NFC South and they could take a big step toward a fourth consecutive division title with a win here, and help out the Dolphins along the way.
N.Y. Giants (vs. Baltimore), Sunday, 1 PM ET
The Giants are playing out the string and expecting them to beat the Ravens coming off a bye with Tommy DeVito at quarterback seems like a pipe dream, but we can always hope, right?
Cleveland (vs. Kansas City), Sunday, 1 PM ET
The Chiefs already have locked up the AFC West title (yawn), but they're aiming for the No. 1 seed and the hope for the Dolphins is they don't clinch that before Week 18 because they face Denver that final Sunday.
Buffalo (at Detroit), Sunday, 4:25 PM ET
This again has everything to do with that final KC-DEN game and the need for the Bills to stay within striking distance of the Chiefs heading into Week 18, so Kansas City has incentive to defeat Denver, which obviously could help the Dolphins.
Tennessee (vs. Cincinnati), 1 PM ET
We're seriously not expecting the Bengals to be able to mount a playoff run (too many teams to overtake), but it wouldn't hurt anything to have them out of the picture already.
Philadelphia (vs. Pittsburgh), 1 PM ET
The Dolphins likely aren't catching the Steelers if they become a wild-card team, but it's not mathematically out of the question yet, so go Eagles.
Indianapolis (at Denver), 4:25 PM ET
This one is tricky because it involves that teams in competition with the Dolphins. The factors here is that while Denver has the better record and the Dolphins could move one game of the Broncos with a win and a Denver loss, we can't help but look at Indy's remaining schedule (Titans, Giants, Jaguars) and think they could sweep to finish 10-7. But then if that happens after a Dolphins victory at Houston, then the Texans become the target for Miami with their games left against the Chiefs and Ravens.
WEEK 15 GAMES OF NO CONSEQUENCE TO THE DOLPHINS
These are games for Dolphins fans to watch for pure enjoyment or fantasy football because they don't involve Miami-related playoff implications.
But here's the rest of the Week 15 slate, in the interest of thoroughness:
- Dallas at Carolina, Sunday, 1 PM ET
- N.Y. Jets at Jacksonville, Sunday, 1 PM ET
- Washington at New Orleans, Sunday, 1 PM ET
- New England at Arizona, Sunday, 1 PM ET
- Green Bay at Seattle, Sunday, 8:20 PM ET
- Chicago at Minnesota, Monday, 8 PM ET
- Atlanta at Las Vegas, Monday, 8:30 PM ET
Additional reading:
-- Will Houston remain a house of horrors for Dolphins?
-- Can Ramsey rebound against Texans?
-- Sneak peek at 2025 schedule and remaining flex possibilities for 2024