With Hurricane Irma ripping its way across the Atlantic toward the United States, the NFL’s priorities have obviously been placed on safety, if not player safety.
With the Dolphins’ home game against the Buccaneers postponed until their scheduled Week 11 bye week, both teams are now faced with playing 16 straight games, which is not ideal. But the Dolphins are already a home game short, since they’ve given the league a home date to send their Oct. 1 game against the Saints to London.
That means after their bye this week, the Dolphins will be playing in Los Angeles, New York and London before playing their first actual home game in Miami Oct. 8 against the Titans.
One suggestion for relief comes from Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, who believes that canceling the London trip and letting the Dolphins play that game at Hard Rock Stadium would be the fair thing to do.
He’s careful to point out that this option hasn’t been discussed at the league level, and that it seems unlikely to come to fruition, since it would require Dolphins owner Stephen Ross to ask for it. That Dolphins-Saints game is one of four in England this season, as the league has gradually increased their inventory overseas.
To be honest, Salguero’s idea is sensible, and logical, and humane. It also has no chance of happening.
For the league to pull the plug on one of their pet projects would require them to value the welfare of the Dolphins’ players over their own international ambitions, something that few would imagine possible.