The Miami Dolphins will open their 2023 schedule on the road in Week 1, and head out west, as they’ll face off against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, September 10.
In a third meeting of the fifth and sixth selections in the 2020 NFL draft, the Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa will look to avenge a 2022 loss out west to Justin Herbert and his Chargers.
In a game that could’ve been won by Miami, the Chargers dealt them a tough loss, which was part of a five-game losing streak from Week 13 through Week 17. The battle against Los Angeles was the second of a three-game road trip during that stint.
In a game that didn’t feature a reciprocal quarterback shootout, each passer threw just one touchdown and each kept the interception slate clean, as Los Angeles emerged victorious at home, with a 23-17 final. Herbert threw all night during the Sunday prime-time game, attempting 51 passes with 39 completions for 367 yards. He recorded a 102.3 quarterback rating, as Tagovailoa’s was just 65.3 on 10-for-28 passing with just 145 yards.
As rookies, Tagovailoa got the better of Herbert with a 29-21 home victory, while throwing for 169 yards on 15-of-25 passing and a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions. Herbert was 20-of-32 that game for just 182 yards, with a pair of scoring passes and an interception.
Back to Week 1 of 2023, Miami now will have months to prepare for Herbert and the Chargers’ receiving weapons, which include two excellent veterans in Keenan Allen and Mike Williams as well as first-round pick Jordan Addison.
The Dolphins’ new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio will get an opportunity to play with his new coverage schemes and utilize his toys at cornerback in Xavien Howard, Jalen Ramsey, Kader Kohou and his own rookie, Cam Smith, to counter the Los Angeles air-attack.
Safeties Jevon Holland and free agent DeShon Elliott will, of course, factor in. Defensive backs Nik Needham and Brandon Jones are returning from injury, so it remains to be seen exactly how quickly they’ll be fully into the defensive back rotation. It doesn’t appear there’ll be that long of a wait, if any, as both seem to be pacing on or even ahead of their rehab schedule.
As far as the all-time, regular-season series between the Dolphins and Chargers, Miami holds a 17-15 record, and the teams have split for a 2-2 postseason mark. The teams were 1-1 in the playoffs in the 1980s as well as the 1990s.
Miami once held a seven-game win streak against the Chargers from 1995-2008, while the Los Angeles/San Diego franchise never held more than a two-game winning streak on the Dolphins all-time. The last two-game win streak for the Chargers against Miami came in 2009 and 2011. Since then, Miami is 5-3 against them.
This will be the Dolphins’ sixth game against the Chargers in September and the only other Week 1 game between these teams was back in 1986 at San Diego – a Dolphins loss. The Dolphins are 1-4 in September games against the Chargers, with four of them being road affairs to just one at home, which was back in 2019, a Los Angeles win while Miami was in their 2019 “rebuild” season.
Following this opening 2023 west-coast Week 1 contest, the Dolphins will head home and continue to rack up early air miles, as they’ll then head north to New England for a Week 2 Sunday Night Football game.
