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In nature, of course, dolphins and falcons are mortal enemies. On the gridiron, they’re maybe something less than mortal enemies but they still have some semblance of a rivalry thanks to fairly frequent preseason matchups and a history of games stretching back to 1970.
It has been a fairly one-sided series. The Dolphins own a 9-4 all-time advantage, including wins in the last two meetings (2013 and 2017) and four straight to start the series. The games have all been fairly close except for the Dolphins’ 42-7 1974 beatdown and the Falcons browbeating Miami 38-16 during their historic 1998 season. There’s just something about the AFC in general, and the AFC East more specifically, that this team just can’t seem to get by.
When these two teams meet Thursday night, of course, the stakes will be pretty low except for the urgent task of avoiding major injuries. We’ll hope they can do just that.