The Miami Dolphins’ finale at the New England Patriots will be a 4:25 p.m. kickoff airing on Fox on Sunday, Jan. 4, as the NFL announced Sunday night.
The league unveiled the dates and times of Week 18’s slate of games after the Sunday night game between Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers.
The AFC East matchup between the Dolphins and Patriots, although Miami (7-9) is eliminated and New England (13-3) has clinched the division title, wasn’t a 1 p.m. kickoff because the Patriots are up for the No. 1 seed against the Denver Broncos. Their games are bound to kick off at the same time.
The Broncos (13-3) host the Los Angeles Chargers in their finale, and playing in the Mountain time zone, they don’t play 1 p.m. Eastern home games. Outside of scenarios involving ties, the Patriots need to win against the Dolphins and have the Broncos lose in order to claim the conference’s top seed for the postseason.
The Patriots sealed the division Sunday with the Bills’ loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Week 18 Sunday night game will be the Baltimore Ravens visiting Pittsburgh and the Steelers for the AFC North crown.
The NFL has two Saturday games next weekend, with the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicking off at 4:30 p.m. and the Seattle Seahawks playing at the San Francisco 49ers for the NFC West title and the conference’s top seed.
