Friday, April 19, 2013

Seventeen takeaways from Dolphins' 2013 schedule

BY NICK ST. DENIS

1. The Dolphins haven't gotten a whole lot of love on primetime as of late, but Miami will play three games of that kind in 2013.

2. Miami opens its season in Cleveland -- the only other time that happened was a Monday night contest in 1992. (photo: June Rivera, Flickr)

3. Another road game follows the opener, as the Dolphins travel to Indianapolis Week 2.

4. One more time about the road schedule: Miami is away from home Week 4 when it travels to New Orleans. That's three road games in the first four weeks.

5. An early bye is in the cards with the Dolphins taking a break Week 6.

6. The Dolphins finish their regular season hosting the Jets for the second time in three years. They won the last like matchup in 2011.

7. Free agent acquisition and new Dolphins No. 1 receiver Mike Wallace will take a stab at his former team, the Steelers, in the first part of December.

8. Former Ravens linebacker Dannell Ellerbe will also get a chance to oust his last employer in early October just before the bye.

9. Let's keep going: Dustin Keller, formerly of the Jets, goes from rival to rival and will post up as an enemy to the franchise he called home the last five years when Miami takes on Gang Green twice in December.

10. We're not done yet with the connections resulting from the Dolphins' free-agent spending spree. Cornerback Brent Grimes takes on his former team, the Falcons, Week 3.

11. From Weeks 2-5, the Dolphins face explosive passing attacks in the Colts, Falcons, Saints and Ravens. That'll be quite the test for a questionable (at the moment) secondary group.

12. Miami is home for five of seven games after the road-heavy start to the season.

13. Two of the Dolphins' three primetime games are in consecutive weeks -- Oct. 31 vs. the Bengals and Nov. 11 at the Buccaneers.

14. The Dolphins' last seven games are 1 p.m. kickoffs.

15. In fact, 12 of the team's 13 non-primetime games are early starts.

16. Three of Miami's last four games will be in cold-weather settings: Dec. 1 at the Jets, Dec. 8 at the Steelers and Dec. 22 at the Bills.

17. The Dolphins' Week 10 bout with the Buccaneers will be just the 10th time the in-state foes have met.

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