Joe Philbin has said that the Miami Dolphins face a "challenging schedule" at the start of the 2013 NFL season.

The AFC East side face the Cleveland Browns in the opening week of the season before playing the Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints.

In a conference call with Dolphins fans, the head coach said: "I feel very good about it. It's obviously a challenging schedule. Three of our first four games are on the road.

"We've got an excellent team in Cleveland with a brand new staff that we've got to deal with, that's always a little bit of a challenge. We haven't seen the team on film in a regular season, so that's a unique challenge on the road.

"We're excited about playing [the Falcons] in the home opener. New Orleans is a very good football team, and then we have the Super Bowl champions at home. It's certainly challenging, but I know our guys will be up to the challenge."

The Dolphins play the Saints in their final pre-season game this evening.