The NFL announced Wednesday that the regular season opener between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins on Sunday was postponed, pushed to the Week 11 bye week that both teams share because of the impending arrival of Hurricane Irma in South Florida.
The NFL chose to move the date of the game rather than relocate the teams to a neutral site. Among the locales considered were Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
The game will be played at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium on Nov. 19. By moving it to the teams' shared bye week, both teams will now have to play 16 straight weeks to end the season. The Dolphins will have a particularly strenuous schedule to start the season and won't return home until Week 5.
With the schedule change, Tampa Bay will now play three of its first four games at home, starting Sept. 17 against the Bears.
One other takeaway for the Bucs is that Doug Martin, the team's starting running back who is suspended for the first three games of the season over a violation of the NFL's performance-enhancing substance policy, will now make his debut Oct. 5 against the Patriots instead of a week earlier.
The NFL had announced Tuesday that, after consulting with state and local officials as well as with both teams, the game would not be played in South Florida "in the interest of public safety in light of the continuing state of emergency."
Seahawk says police roughed him up
Seahawks defensive lineman Michael Bennett wrote via Twitter that he was the victim of excessive force from Las Vegas police while attending the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight Aug. 26, saying he was held at gunpoint and assaulted while on the ground.
Bennett retained Oakland civil-rights attorney John Burris and is considering legal options, including filing a federal civil-rights lawsuit.