Buccaneers-Dolphins moved to Sunday, November 19 due to Hurricane Irma

The Tampa Bay Buccaners and Miami Dolphins will not be opening their season this Sunday. Instead, they'll play their matchup on November 19, or week 11 of the regular season, in Miami.

The game was originally scheduled for this Sunday in Miami, but Hurricane Irma will prevent that from happening. The storm is now literally off the charts, and is forcing evacuations and adjustments across Florida and the Caribbean, with a lot of devastation on those islands already hit. Obviously, the NFL does not want to play a game under those circumstances.

With short notice and risk of the Hurricane affecting any Florida venue, bringing the game forward in a different location wasn't really an option either.

The move to week 11 was fairly straightforward, given that both the Dolphins and Bucs had a bye week scheduled then—now they'll get it in week one, which won't make either team happy. But the safety of spectators and players is a lot more important than teams’ convenience. They’ll just have to deal with playing 16 straight weeks (and possibly more) without a week of rest.

Hopefully everyone stays safe as Florida prepares for Hurricane Irma. That's a lot more important than this one game.