Hurricane Irma causes changes to Buccaneers-Dolphins opener

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer

The NFL couldn’t have the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers kick off in South Florida as scheduled on Sunday, not with Hurricane Irma expected to hit the area.

So the NFL determined Tuesday afternoon that the game would not be played in Miami on Sunday as scheduled, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The NFL was still weighing its options for the game, which appeared to be down to playing at a neutral site or moving the game to Week 11, when both teams have a bye.

The NFL had a conference call Tuesday morning to discuss the options for the game. Neither team seemed excited to play in Week 11. Although that’s easy for the league since both teams coincidentally have a bye that week, it’s far from ideal to play 16 straight games without a bye.

[Sign up for Fantasy Football before it’s too late! Draft now for free]

The Dolphins had been contemplating what to do for a few days, since it was predicted that Hurricane Irma would be hitting South Florida Sunday afternoon, right about the scheduled kickoff time.

The NFL has moved games before due to weather issues. The Dolphins moved up games in 2004 and 2005 to earlier in the week to avoid storms.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Jay Cutler signals touchdown during an NFL preseason football game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2017. (Winslow Townson/AP Images for Panini)
Miami Dolphins quarterback Jay Cutler signals touchdown during an NFL preseason football game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2017. (Winslow Townson/AP Images for Panini)

– – – – – – –

Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!