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The Miami Dolphins come into the season with the second-toughest schedule. Nine of the 17 teams that Miami will play this season have made the playoffs in the past two seasons.
There are many familiar foes on the Dolphins’ schedule. There are a handful of games in particular, however, that the Fins and their fans will be focusing on.
Week 1, at the Las Vegas Raiders
The Dolphins will start the season on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Raiders held the first overall pick this last draft and took Indiana University quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza. However, it’s anticipated that he won’t be the starter that day and that it will be veteran Kirk Cousins. Last season, he threw for 1,700 yards in 10 games before going down with shoulder and elbow injuries.
Last season, Las Vegas averaged a league-worst 14 points a game. The Dolphins will be hoping those offensive woes continue and that they can earn a win back to Miami from Allegiant Stadium.
More importantly, it’s the Dolphin debut of many players, including quarterback Malik Willis and first-round pick Kadyn Proctor, among others. Many sports fans are quick to call their teams’ season a success or failure based on the first week of play, so it’s no surprise that the stakes are going to be high in this Week 1 matchup.
Week 7, at the New York Jets
This will be Head Coach Jeff Hafley’s first game against a divisional opponent in the New York Jets. The Dolphins are 8-2 against the Jets in the past five years, including a sweep last season.
Like the Raiders, the Jets were one of the lowest-scoring offenses in the NFL last season, only averaging 17 points a game. Additionally, New York, miraculously, had zero interceptions on the defensive side of the ball.
The Dolphins bumped former Texans Offensive Coordinator Bobby Slowik up from senior passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator in hopes of fixing a bottom-half offense in Miami. The Dolphins fans are circling this matchup against the Jets in particular as a favorable game for the offense on the schedule this year.
Week 15, at the Green Bay Packers
The Dolphins have not fared well in recent years in cold-weather matchups. Under the previous coaching regime, the Dolphins went 0-7.
A December matchup in the frozen tundra has disaster written all over it. However, Hafley and Willis are bound to be fired up to get some revenge on their former team.
The Packers were a solid squad in 2025 despite their first-round exit, as they were top 15 in yards allowed per game and points per game. The Packers went 5-3 at home last season, and the Fins went 2-6 on the road.
Week 18, at the New England Patriots
The last week of the season always has big implications for a multitude of reasons. Clinching a first-round bye, clinching your division, squeaking into a playoff spot, or, most likely for the Dolphins, getting themselves closer to the first overall pick in the draft.
This game is a bit of deja vu for both fan bases as they faced each other in Week 18 last season, where the Fins got killed 38-10. If the Patriots already have the division clinched by then, as they did last year, the Dolphins could be looking at playing the Pats’ backups and finding another win.
This season will be an important one in Dolphins history. Is Malik Willis a capable starting quarterback in the NFL? Does Hafley have what it takes to run a football team?
There are a lot of changes and new faces in Miami. But with so much change, there is a lot of excitement and anticipation around this year’s Dolphin squad.
The post Which 4 Games Will Define the Miami Dolphins’ 2026 Season? appeared first on The Lead.
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