I updated my NFL Flexible Scheduling Primer page for the new season!
What do you mean I only did it over the course of the last hour if not half-hour of the month and I still may make some further edits at some point?
I really do think I’m going to get back into Steven Universe this week, if only because Cartoon Network is airing a marathon of every episode leading up to the movovie this weekend, even though I have to wake up at 8:30 to catch one of the episodes that’s been holding me back from finishing my Season 2 recap post.
Great post Morgan. Here’s to a great 100th NFL season and great year of Sunday Night Football Flex Scheduling fun.
Go Pack Go!!! 🙂
Here’s how I saw flexible scheduling for the 2019 season, just after the schedule came out in April.
April 19, 2019 at 5:06 pm
Here’s an EARLY opinion on how things could shake out for Sunday Night Football Flex Scheduling for Weeks 5 through 17 of the 2019 NFL season. Remember this though, in Weeks 5 to 10, a maximum 2 of those 6 games can actually be flexed out. But in Weeks 11 through 16, all of the games could be flexed out and Week 17, there will be a game flexed to Sunday Night Football.
Week 5 Tentative: Colts @ Chiefs
A rematch of a Divisional Rd. playoff game from last season and likely stays, unless Indy starts off like last season.
Week 6 Tentative: Steelers @ Chargers
It surprised me that the NFL decided to have Sunday Night Football played at the small Stub Hub Center and they did it 2 times no less, but this game could be lopsided; as we don’t know what to make of the Steelers this season. Chargers seem poised for big things, but for those pesky Chiefs. Hard to see this flexed out though.
Week 7 Tentative: Eagles @ Cowboys
Like Morgan always says, it would take an act of God to make this matchup move and I will abdicate to his wisdom. Even if both teams are winless going into the game.
Week 8 Tentative: Packers @ Chiefs
My Packers are the worry here for me, for this game staying put. New coach, older QB that’s been injured a lot lately, and not committed to one specific RB. Should be Aaron Jones though. And still a very suspect D. We’ll see what happens. Go Pack Go!
Week 9 Tentative: Patriots @ Ravens
The Ravens seem to be the team that could make this a tenuous matchup. What will we get out of 2nd year QB Jackson? Can a run oriented team, that added Ingram, really be a success in today’s NFL, seemingly mandated, pass happy league?
Week 10 Tentative: Vikings @ Cowboys
From Week 7: “Like Morgan always says, it would take an act of God to make this matchup move and I will abdicate to his wisdom. Even if both teams are winless going into the game.” Okay, maybe I won’t go this extreme on this one, but Jerry would be pissed to lose this game.
Week 11 Tentative: Bears @ Rams
A rematch of last year’s Sunday Night Football defensive gem, that the Bears won 15-6. This led to 2 other teams emulating the Bears in how to play against the Rams great offense. One of them happened to be the Patriots in the Super Bowl no less, though I think Belichick probably didn’t need any help from the Bears on how to throttle the Rams. I see this game staying put.
Week 12 Tentative: Seahawks @ Eagles
The 2 Wild Card teams from the NFC last season. Both teams should be good and I see this staying put.
Week 13 Tentative: Patriots @ Texans
Houston has beaten New England ONCE in their existence and it was when the guys from Foxborough had ZERO to play for at all. The coach for Houston never has the balls to put New England out of it’s misery when it could and they suffer instead. Game stays, unless Texans do their usual and have a bad year after a good one. Oh, this is the Thanksgiving Day weekend too, for what it’s worth. Less choices to flex to.
Week 14 Tentative: Seahawks @ Rams
This could be a HUGE game for this NFC West and I easily see it staying put.
Week 15 Tentative: Vikings @ Chargers
Minnesota is the team I see making this game be flexed out. 10-3 Los Angeles vs. 5-8 or 6-7 Minny wouldn’t be too fun to watch now, would it?
Week 16 Tentative: Chiefs @ Bears
Potential Super Bowl preview that stays put.
Week 17 Tentative: None (usually selected during Week 16 Sunday Night Football’s game)
Browns @ Bengals – Cincy makes this no good.
Redskins @ Cowboys – Washington ruins this.
Packers @ Lions – I’d like to see it matter because my Green Bay is doing well and Detroit is too. I doubt both will happen, plus Andrew DeCaro might be a dangerous man if this is selected. Ha!
Titans @ Texans – NBC prays they don’t get forced another AFC South matchup that’s the only win and in game.
Colts @ Jaguars – NBC prays they don’t get forced another AFC South matchup that’s the only win and in game.
Chargers @ Chiefs – I see this as the best chance and everyone at the network hopes that both of these teams have the same record entering this matchup, at say 12-3 each. Though if that happens, it could have ramifications on other teams and thus necessitating they play at 4:25pm EST/1:25pm PST.
Bears @ Vikings – I see Minny as the problem here.
Dolphins @ Patriots – until Belichick and Brady are no longer together, the AFC East will never have a matchup in this game in Week 17.
Eagles @ Giants – Eli is too old to make this game matter anymore. Get a younger QB to go with RB stud Barkley and things might turn.
Falcons @ Buccaneers – The networks generally DO NOT want games from the South divisions on National TV games. Could be a better game than expected though, as Bruce Arians is a great coach.
Steelers @ Ravens – my current 2nd choice behind Chargers/Chiefs, but both of these teams could be 7-8 going into the matchup.
Jets @ Bills – see above post about Dolphins/Patriots ^^^^^ and you know my sentiments.
Saints @ Panthers – Carolina was good last season until Pittsburgh beat the crap out of them on Thursday Night Football last season. Cam had shoulder surgery, right? I don’t see this Carolina team being good enough to make this matter. Due to my thinking, the Panthers will be 15-0 going into the game.
Raiders @ Broncos – the game that decided who gets the 1st pick in the 2020 NFL draft?
49ers @ Seahawks – I like Lynch as GM in San Fran, but is this team any good yet? The early season will decide yes or no. Not 100% sold on Garafalo yet either, though I wish good things for him.
Cardinals @ Rams – Cardinals are only as good as their coach is and this coach isn’t that good. Whisenhunt and Arians were their best coaches and they let them both go. The organization has always been rather cheap and it’s sad they have never given Fitzgerald much to compete better. If not for old guys Warner and Palmer, they would have been even worse. Rams are too good for Arizona in this game. 11-4 Rams vs. 2-13 Cardinals is NOT a good matchup for the final SNF game of the season.
There you all have it. NFL Christmas happened on Wednesday the 17th with the schedule release. I hope to see some other opinions/posts here soon. Even from you too Morgan, if you have some time.
Jeff
I will say this:
The NFL needs to have the last week of the regular season as noted before be all games in one conference at 3:00 and the other at 7:00 PM ET with the games split between ALL of the NFL’s broadcast partners and where needed using DT-2/3/4 channels (with cable simulcasts) for the least important games. That removes the uncertainty of when games would be scheduled the last week since you’ll know ahead of time if you’re in one conference you’re at 3:00 and if you’re in the other conference you’ll be at 7:00. I’m sure if the Giants were scheduled for 7:00 the final Sunday some season ticket holders who never go to night games would complain but I think that’s the way to do it.
Here’s what I see happening:
Week 5: With the Colts winning Sunday, no chance that is swapped out.
Week 6: Given Big Ben’s injury, if the 49ers pound them as I think may happen this week, I can see a swap-out of LA games with 49ers-Rams replacing Steelers-Chargers (possibly in a three-way switch with Steelers-Chargers on CBS and Titans-Broncos moved to FOX).
Week 7: ZERO Chance Eagles-Cowboys is moved.
Week 8: Little or no chance Packers-Chiefs is swapped.
Weeks 9-11: ZERO CHANCE Pats-Ravens, Vikings-Cowboys OR Bears-Rams are flexed out.
Week 12: Right now, Seahawks-Eagles unlikely to be flexed unless one or both is already out of playoff contention.
Weel 13: Almost no chance Pats-Texans is flexed out. AFC South is so bad Texans even at say 5-7 could be battling for the division.
Week 14: Probably depends on the Seahawks. If they are still alive this stays. Most likely candidate to be flexed in if Seahawks are bad would be 49ers-Saints as of now.
Week 15: Probably not flexed out unless it were flexed out as part of a multi-way switch with Vikings-Chargers to CBS with if the Falcons are still in it Falcons-49ers the most likely game flexed in (Rams-Cowboys almost certain to be protected by FOX).
Week 16: Unless the Bears turn out to be massive disappointments, ZERO CHANCE Chiefs-Bears is flexed because that could be a Super Bowl preview.
Week 17: WAY too early to tell. I’m sure NBC would love the Seahawks and 49ers to be at least relevant for a wild card and THAT be the Sunday night finale.
Looks like PIT-LAC should be given at least a look at flexing out since teams combined are 1-5(may be looking to be 3-5 next Sunday as they play bad opposition) and stars sidelined.
The only problem is alternatives that do not look great. Best one is SF-LAR or SEA-CLE so far.
Hello all,
Tomorrow is the day that the NFL has to announce any changes to the Week 5 schedule. When they make their announcement, it is posted on nflcommunications.com. We’ll see if there are any changes. Even though there are only 2 late games scheduled, I don’t think we’ll see any changes.
As for Sunday Night Football Flex Scheduling, here’s how I see some things in the upcoming weeks of the early flex period of Weeks 5 to 10.
Week 5 – scheduled game is Indy(2-1) @ KC(3-0) <—this game will stay, as the only other good game is GB(3-0) @ Dal(3-0). I'd prefer that switch, but I am sure FOX protected that, as it is there only game in the late slot and will be shown to most of the country as FOX's America's Game of the Week.
Week 6 – scheduled game is Pitt(0-3) @ LA Chargers(1-2) <—likely to be flexed out in my opinion. The current best options, for moving to Sunday Night Football, as I see it are:
#1 – SF(3-0) @ LA Rams(3-0)
#2 – Hou(2-1) @ KC(3-0)
Week 7 – scheduled game is Phil(1-2) @ Dal(3-0) <—apocalypse will happen before this is flexed out
My preferences to this game are:
#1 – Minn(2-1) @ Det(2-0-1)
#2 – Hou(2-1) @ Indy(2-1)
#3 – NO(2-1) @ Chi(2-1)
#4 – Balt(2-1) @ Sea(2-1)
Week 8's scheduled game is: GB(3-0) @ KC(3-0) – I think this will stay
Week 9's scheduled game is: NE(3-0) @ Balt(2-1) – I think this will stay
Week 10's scheduled game is: Minn(2-1) @ Dal(3-0) – this WILL stay
The main flex scheduling part of the season is Week's 11 to 17 and I will start offering my insight into that after the conclusion of Week 7.
Go Pack Go this Thursday vs. the Eagles!!! 🙂
If Week 6 is changed, IMO it will be simply where the LA games are swapped out with the following changes:
49ers-Rams from 4:05 on FOX to 8:20 on NBC.
Steelers-Chargers to 4:25 on CBS
Titans-Broncos to 4:05 on FOX (cross-flexed from CBS).
While Texans-Chiefs would be appealing, I think the NFL and NBC would want to save an Chiefs flexes for later this season, especially since the 49ers only have a couple of national TV games.
When checking out nflcommunications.com, I have seen nothing that indicates any change to the Week 5 schedule, so Indy(2-1) @ KC(3-0) stays put. It’s a 15 game slate in this particular week and it consists of 1 game on Thursday, 10 games in the Sunday early slot(1 from London), 2 games in the Sunday late slot, 1 game on Sunday Night Football and 1 game on Monday Night Football. I like it as a Green Bay fan, as my Packers go to Dallas and get a nearly 100% coverage map, but I don’t like it in a sense because it’s too much of a skewing of way too many early games compared to late games on Sunday.
Go Pack Go at Lambeau vs. the Eagles. 🙂
Where the heck has Morgan been any way did he just give up on this section? How lazy
I agree. If Morgan doesn’t want to update this site anymore I think you should take over Walt G
First off, I don’t believe the comment from “Walt Gekko” from September 26, 2019 at 12:00 am is from the actual Walt Gekko. Morgan has never been one to contribute too much during the early flex period of Weeks 5 through 10. He has a life and I appreciate the fact that he has given us this site/blog to be able to voice our opinions on this.
I am one who happens to like to talk about this right out of the chute, but that is me. I have been following this blog since it’s inception in 2006 or very close to it and I think it’s the only place I have ever seen on the internet, that provides this content.
Thanks again for this blog Morgan, as it is much appreciated.
Jeff
I agree Morgan either killed himself or has given up on this somebody else should take over
And I had not been in here for a few days and just saw the fake version of me make the post about Morgan being lazy (again, this was an issue last year).