Dolphins Outlook in Return from Bye

The Miami Dolphins have a favorable schedule the rest of the 2024 season

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) runs with the football against the Tennessee Titans during the third quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins will be back at practice Monday as they return to work following their bye, with a favorable schedule and the looming return of some key players serving as encouraging signs.

The Dolphins went into their bye with a 2-3 record, but they're now tied for the seventh and last AFC playoff spot when it comes to the loss column.

And, based on the current standings, the Dolphins do not appear to have a difficult schedule the rest of the way — though they're at 2-3 after facing what has by far been the easiest schedule so far.

The combined record of the final 12 opponents — counting the New York Jets twice — is 29-39, a .426 winning percentage that averages to slightly better than a 7-10 final record.

As of Monday morning, only three of the final 12 games is against an opponent that currently has a winning record — at Houston (5-1), at Buffalo (3-2) and at Green Bay (4-2).

The Dolphins have the same number of games against three of the six teams that have only one victory — the Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns.

Again, it's not as though the Dolphins haven't had a soft schedule to this point because they have.

The Dolphins have faced three of those teams with only one win — New England, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Tennessee Titans — and have faced only one team that currently has a winning record, Buffalo.

KEY PLAYERS ON THE WAY BACK?

That the Dolphins are 2-3 is the result of some sub-par performances, along obviously with the injury that sidelined quarterback Tua Tagovailoa for the past three games.

But all signs suggest that Tagovailoa will be back when he's eligible to come off IR following the game against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, and his return obviously should make a difference for the offense.

The Dolphins also have five more players eligible to return to practice this week: WR River Cracraft and S Patrick McMorris, who are on injured reserve; OLB Bradley Chubb, G Isaiah Wynn and OLB Cameron Gooden, who are on PUP.

Of those, it did appear as though Cracraft seemed to be the most likely to return to practice this week, and the Dolphins certainly could use him to beef up a thin wide receiver corps that did welcome back Odell Beckham Jr. in the game at New England before the bye.

THE DOLPHINS AND THE BYE

Recent history also offers optimism when it comes to the game against the Colts, with the Dolphins are on a four-game winning streak in games coming off a bye.

Of course, it should be noted that all four of those victories were at Hard Rock Stadium — against the L.A. Rams in 2020, the New York Jets in 2021, the Houston Texans in 2022 and the Las Vegas Raiders last season.

Overall, the Dolphins are 21-14 in their post-bye games, including victories in 1992 and 2017 when the bye was moved to Week 1 because of hurricanes.

The byes began in 1990 and the NFL experiments with each team having two byes in 1993 before dropping the idea after one year — an idea that could be revisited if the league expands the regular season to 18 games.