NFL Flexible Scheduling Watch: Week 9

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Note: This post does not incorporate the result of the Thursday night game.

On this week’s “Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast”, SportsBusiness Journal’s John Ourand explained how the rule guaranteeing CBS and Fox one-half of each division rivalry is hindering the league’s ability to flex out of bad games by seemingly confirming that CBS and Fox don’t have to protect games if they’re the only half of a division rivalry they’re scheduled to get:


Now, I’m not sure how much that rule has to do with the bad primetime games we’ve already gotten. Besides a number of games not falling in flexible windows, even with the guaranteed-division-rivalry rule it’s not like the league was lacking in alternatives to Bears-Chargers Week 8. It would have required some back-and-forth crossflexing to accommodate both the Rams and Chargers without giving CBS too many games in the late window, but that shouldn’t have been too much of an obstacle unless, as I’ve decided, the early flex is meant to be a very rare exception to the games it applies to being non-flexible, to be used only when an injury to a star player makes it truly dire and not as marketable as it used to be. But that may not be as much the case as I’ve thought: this week’s Jets-Raiders game apparently got to the point of the networks issuing protections, with Fox reportedly protecting Niners-Jaguars despite not moving it to the late window or otherwise moving away from Giants-Cowboys as their lead late game, because the Cowboys-Giants half of the rivalry had already aired on NBC. (On that note, shortly after the bit in the clip Marchand and Ourand were reminded that there are three games between teams with winning records this week, including Niners-Jaguars… and all three are in the early window, and in fact all three are on Fox so no one will be getting more than one of them without Sunday Ticket.) And the rule certainly is greatly limiting the league’s options in the main flex period, as we’ve had plenty of opportunity to explore in this space.

What would I do about it? Really, there’s not much that can be done beyond taking more care in the construction of the schedule. One thing I would do is space out divisional games as evenly as possible across the season. Each division has 12 divisional games, two of which have to be played Week 18; multiply by eight divisions and that’s 80 games over 17 weeks, or about five a week with five weeks getting four. Those five weeks, if possible, should all be in the main flex period. In addition, for any division game scheduled for one of the primetime packages, CBS or Fox’s half of those games should be scheduled for September or October before the main flex period kicks in, and games with one half scheduled for Week 18 should have the other half scheduled either in the first half of the season, or very late in the season, around Week 15-16, so the league has some idea of the likelihood that the Week 18 game will be suitable/desirable for a move to NBC or ESPN. Balancing all of that is not necessarily practical, and might not be desirable for CBS or Fox, but I feel like it should be a goal the league should aspire towards.

Of course, there’s a reason Fox didn’t back out of a game involving the woeful Giants as its lead late game in favor of Niners-Jaguars or any of the other games involving teams with winning records: how good a team is doesn’t necessarily correlate that well with how desirable the games involving them are.

How NFL flexible scheduling works: (see also the NFL’s own page on flex schedule procedures)

  • Up to two games in Weeks 5-10 (the “early flex” period), and any number of games from Week 11 onward, may be flexed into Sunday Night Football. Any number of games from Week 12 onward may be flexed into Monday Night Football, and up to two games from Week 13 onward may be flexed into Thursday Night Football. In addition, in select weeks in December a number of games may be listed as “TBD”, with two or three of those games being assigned to be played on Saturday. Note that I only cover early flexes if a star player on one of the teams is injured.
  • Only games scheduled for Sunday afternoon, or set aside for a potential move to Saturday, may be flexed into one of the flex-eligible windows – not existing primetime games or games in other standalone windows. The game currently listed in the flex-eligible window will take the flexed-in game’s space on the Sunday afternoon slate, generally on the network that the flexed-in game was originally scheduled for. The league may also move Sunday afternoon games between 1 PM ET and 4:05 or 4:25 PM ET.
  • Thursday Night Football flex moves must be announced 28 days in advance. Sunday and Monday Night Football moves must be announced 12 days in advance, except for Sunday night games in Week 14 onward, which can be announced at any point up until 6 days in advance.
  • CBS and Fox have the right to protect one game each per week, among the games scheduled for their networks, from being flexed into primetime windows. During the early flex period, they may protect games at any point once the league tells them they’re thinking of pulling the flex. It’s not known when they must protect games in the main flex period, only that it’s “significantly closer to each game date” relative to the old deadline of Week 5. My assumption is that protections are due five weeks in advance, in accordance with the 28-day deadline for TNF flexes. Protections have never been officially publicized, and have not leaked en masse since 2014, so can only be speculated on.
  • Supposedly, CBS and Fox are also guaranteed one half of each division rivalry. Notably, some Week 18 games (see below) have their other halves scheduled for the other conference’s network, though none are scheduled for primetime.
  • No team may appear more than seven times in primetime windows – six scheduled before the season plus one flexed in. This appears to consider only the actual time the game is played; Amazon’s Black Friday game does not count even though the rest of their TNF slate does, and NBC’s Saturday afternoon game Week 16 doesn’t count but their Peacock game that night does. This post contains a list of all teams’ primetime appearances entering the season.
  • Teams may play no more than two Thursday games following Sunday games, and (apparently) no more than one of them can be on the road.
  • In Week 18 the entire schedule, consisting entirely of games between divisional opponents, is set on six days’ notice, usually during the previous week’s Sunday night game. One game will be scheduled for Sunday night, usually a game that decides who wins the division, a game where the winner is guaranteed to make the playoffs while the loser is out, or a game where one team makes the playoffs with a win but falls behind the winner of another game, and thus loses the division and/or misses the playoffs, with a loss. Two more games with playoff implications are scheduled for Saturday on ABC and ESPN, with the remaining games doled out to CBS and Fox on Sunday afternoon, with the league generally trying to maximize what each team has to play for. Protections and appearance limits do not apply to Week 18.
  • Click here to learn how to read the charts.

Week 12: Time’s just about up to find a replacement for Bears-Vikings and the options really are not very good. I wouldn’t necessarily say this is the first week where the impact of the guaranteed-division-rivalry rule is indisputable without any sort of external reporting; the league was already reticent to give both halves of a division rivalry to primetime packages, so I’m not convinced it would flex Steelers-Bengals in under those circumstances. Nonetheless, your best options involve teams at 4-5 likely needing to win, and one of them depends on Saints-Falcons a) not being protected and b) the league being fine with cutting off their ability to make Falcons-Saints an NBC or ESPN game Week 18, and there’s a pretty decent chance that game could decide the division.

That leaves Chiefs-Raiders and the possibility of maxing the Chiefs out on primetime appearances. The good news is that I don’t think there are any more opportunities to flex the Chiefs in the rest of the year until Week 18, so you’re not cutting off any future flexing opportunities. The bad news is that this would put the Chiefs on Monday night in consecutive weeks, which I think the league would try to avoid. The Bears are so woeful that even their Thursday night win against the Panthers doesn’t completely inoculate their game from being flexed out, but the Raiders would absolutely have to win this week, and even then, between the consecutive Monday night games for the Chiefs and the Bears and Vikings bringing considerable name value as NFC North teams, I’m not sure it would be worth the effort. Final prediction: No changes.

Week 13: Another reason not to flex in Chiefs-Raiders is that it would give the Chiefs three consecutive primetime games overall, and right now I don’t think their game against the Packers is bad enough to flex out given that the best available alternative involves a team at 5-4 when the Packers are only a game and a half below that mark at 3-5, to say nothing of how Lions-Saints doesn’t bring a whole lot in terms of name value, or that all the other options involve teams at 4-5 or worse. The Packers haven’t exactly looked… good… and beating the Rams doesn’t say a whole lot about how decent they might be, but these are still two of the marquee franchises in the NFL and the possibility of a Swift sighting will always be catnip to the networks.

Week 14: Looks like Pats-Steelers is keeping its spot, so our attention this week turns towards the possibility of Titans-Dolphins losing its spot, or of Texans-Jets switching places with Packers-Giants. I don’t think the latter is going to happen given the name value disparity, and I think the Titans are okay enough that any alternative game would have to blow the league away to flex out Titans-Dolphins, and I don’t think Jaguars-Browns with the Browns at 5-3 qualifies. For the record, while Vikings-Raiders is probably the best game Fox could have protected, I have them protecting Rams-Ravens and I’m not sure I would rule out Lions-Bears either. (By the way, when a game between the two teams expected to be fighting for the NFC West is trapped in the late singleheader when the game in Seattle is on Thanksgiving night, that’s what I mean when I say the league should be taking more care in the construction of the schedule. I don’t think this would have happened this way if the league didn’t get a late start on finalizing the schedule while waiting for Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson to finalize their new deals.)

Week 15: Not much to say here than what I’ve been saying the past few weeks. Vikings-Bengals, Steelers-Colts, and Broncos-Lions continue to be the strongest candidates for a Saturday move, with Broncos-Lions holding the edge over Bears-Browns because of the Broncos’ head-to-head win over the Bears, the stardom of even a depleted Russell Wilson compared to an absent Justin Fields, and the Lions being a better team than the Browns. It’s definitely a situation that could change in future weeks, but for the moment things seem pretty clear. Meanwhile Eagles-Seahawks for Chiefs-Patriots continues to look like our first really strong flex candidate of the season in a conventional primetime window; I think losing Cowboys-Bills will scare Fox more than losing Eagles-Seahawks would. Because of that I think the league will leave Chargers-Raiders alone as any other TNF-qualified games would involve teams with the same or worse record as the Raiders at the moment.

Week 16: In the past I’d have skipped this week with NBC abandoning Christmas Eve night to NFL Network and playing non-flexible games on Saturday instead, but by all appearances TNF flexing is in place even if shorter-distance flexes aren’t. The chances of Vikings-Lions potentially deciding the division Week 18 is becoming more and more realistic, but if the Texans continue to win and the Rams continue to tumble, Browns-Texans may start looking like a viable flex candidate. The problem, though, is that with TNF being the only flex-eligible window CBS doesn’t need to protect Trumps-Jets, the game it would probably be more inclined to protect otherwise, and meaning CBS would just need to choose the game it’d rather protect between Browns-Texans and Titans-Seahawks. Colts-Falcons would still be an option, but I don’t think it’s quite good enough to justify flexing Saints-Rams out for just yet.

Week 17: Other than Chiefs-Patriots, Packers-Vikings might be the most likely game to be flexed out. Dolphins-Ravens is a good game that’s likely to be unprotected, but the question is whether that would leave CBS with too weak of an early window with Raiders-Colts and Patriots-Bills (with Chargers-Broncos getting an honorable mention). You could also see Fox leave Steelers-Seahawks unprotected in favor of Niners-Commies or Saints-Bucs, since it’ll be pinned to the late singleheader with limited distribution. Speaking of Saints-Bucs, if the NFC South is shaping up to be the tire fire the North isn’t, that game could have significant playoff implications if that outweighs the ease of setting the Week 18 schedule. If the Jets and/or Browns go into the tank, the Thursday and Sunday night deadlines being three weeks apart could leave the league, and Fox, in an odd position, especially since Saints-Bucs might not realistically be movable to Thursday since its eligibility depends on being able to give the Saints a full week off when the Bucs wouldn’t.

Week 18: Here are all the Week 18 games that are rematches of games airing on the wrong conference’s network: Cowboys-Sheriffs, Bucs-Panthers, Texans-Colts. Not a lot, and Cowboys-Sheriffs is the only game that looks like it has a decent shot to be desirable to move to NBC or ESPN at the moment, but still, it’s a bit head-scratching that these games would be scheduled this way to begin with, especially Sheriffs-Cowboys being scheduled on Thanksgiving on CBS when you generally have to pry Cowboys games out of Fox’s cold dead hands. At the moment Bucs-Panthers, Bears-Packers, Eagles-Giants, and the NFC West games seem unlikely to be in line for a move, and on the AFC side the same would appear to be the case for Broncos-Raiders and the AFC South games, with a number of other games being longshots, but at this early date there are more games with a chance of going to NBC or ESPN than without. Even Texans-Colts might have a better chance than I’m giving it credit for considering how immersed the entire AFC North is in the playoff mix.

19 thoughts on “NFL Flexible Scheduling Watch: Week 9”

  1. Repost from earlier threads (new item at the end):

    Week 12: Ravens-Chargers likely stays on SNF, Jags-Texans likely replaces Bears-Vikings on MNF.

    Week 13: Seahawks-Cowboys stays on TNF, Chiefs-Packers stays on SNF and Bengals-Jags remains on MNF, however, if the Packers continue to falter, Falcons-Jets could wind up replacing it since that game could have impact on both conference races.

    Week 14: GB-NYG likely is on ESPN (ABC in New York and Green Bay/Milwaukee), TEN-MIA is on ABC (ESPN in New York and Green Bay/Milwaukee) as the only possible flex for Week 14 MNF for Packers-Giants would be Texans-Jets (as both New York teams are at home that week). Titans-Dolphins likely has only Bucs-Falcons, which could decide the NFC South as a suitable replacement since Seahawks-49ers can’t be flexed due to the first meeting being Thanksgiving night on NBC (and CBS likely protects Bills-Chiefs, they have Falcons-Bucs at 1:00). NO WAY Eagles-Cowboys is flexed out of SNF.

    Week 15: If Chargers-Raiders is flexed out, I suspect Steelers-Colts, one of the games that is in consideration for the three Saturday games would replace it and Chargers-Raiders becomes the middle (4:30 PM ET) game that Saturday on NFL Network. I don’t see Ravens-Jags being flexed out of SNF, Chiefs-Pats could be flexed out of MNF with one of Cowboys-Bills or Eagles-Seahawks (whichever one is NOT protected by FOX) replacing Chiefs Pats.

    Week 16: Saints-Rams likely stays on TNF. I don’t see any other flexes possible given it is Christmas Weekend. NBC and Peacock have Saturday games as I believe NBC has a contractual commitment to air “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Christmas Eve AND I believe NBC affiliates in some markets would have had to pre-empt a Christmas Eve SNF telecast for religious services anyway.

    Week 17: For now, Jets-Browns stays on TNF, however, Saints-Bucs is also a possibility (see below). That week, MNF is on SATURDAY night (Lions-Cowboys) due to the College Football Playoff Semifinals being New Year’s Day/Night (and I believe is an ABC-only game). Doubt that would be flexed out anyway. I suspect Packers-Vikings gets flexed out of SNF for one of Saints-Bucs, Dolphins-Ravens or Steelers-Seahawks with another possibly replacing Jets-Browns on TNF.

    Assuming Saints-Rams remains Thursday night football in Week 16, I could see Saints-Bucs on TNF in Week 17 even though it would be a third TNF appearance for the Saints and second road game. That would be a situation where the Saints would be playing such a Week 17 TNF game on normal rest while the Bucs would be playing that game on three days rest (and there is a precedent for this as in 1997 the then-Tennessee Oilers played on Thanksgiving day in Dallas against the Cowboys and then played the following Thursday in Cincinnati against the Bengals who were playing that game at home on three days rest with the Bengals winning that game easily 41-14 as Corey Dillon ran for 246 yards against the Oilers). In that situation, I suspect the NFL and NFLPA would waive the normal rules against since since the Saints are playing Thursday in Week 16 so they would be playing on normal rest.

    Week 18: Right now, I suspect Steelers-Ravens is a prime candidate for the final Sunday night slot if it’s for the AFC North as is Bills-Dolphins if that is for the AFC East with the other airing Saturday on ESPN. The NFC game (assuming one game from each conference is) on ESPN that Saturday right now looks like Cowboys-Commanders as even if that doesn’t mean anything it’s still Dallas-Washington and that in itself makes it a good game for that Saturday.

    And yes, the NFL should have done a better job on its schedule OR beginning with 2024, make it clear in certain situations the second half of a division rivalry (if the first half was a prime time game) CAN be flexed out if it’s the only game available. The NFL could also maybe do more protection overrides where for example say in future years the NFL season opening game is the WEDNESDAY after Labor Day instead of Thursday for the purpose of having Thursday night “open” for a “compensation game” in Week 1 for CBS or FOX where they had a game they protected flexed anyway the prior season. It would also be done as I would do it if there are Wednesday and Thursday night games in Week 1, the Week 2 Thursday night game is between teams who played Wednesday or Thursday in Week 1 so you have one fewer game where they are playing on short rest.

  2. After todays Pats loss, I am convinced at least the MNF game vs Chiefs in Week 15 needs to be switched. Now. MNF flex needs at least 3 weeks not 12 days because holiday travel is not cheap. I know the Chiefs are playing the following Monday on Christmas but so are the Eagles and Ravens so it’s likely the Eagles/Seahawks (if they don’t falter the next couple weeks) gets moved in.

  3. Texans showed that they’re for real with that win against the Bengals and Stroud’s overall amazing rookie year. I am hoping that that is enough to make Jags-Texans more appealing than Bears-Vikings, however the Vikings being 6-4 makes them unlikely to be flexed out plus their bigger name value. I really hope that the NFL for once picks the better matchup over the better names, but this is a business unfortunately and it feels unlikely to happen.

    Patriots are 2-8 now.. they play the giants & chargers before the week 15 MNF decision.. at best they’re 4-8. If the seahawks don’t fall off too hard, eagles-seahawks should replace it.

  4. With the Sunday afternoon games all but done, it’s time to revisit the Packers’ scheduled prime-time games:

    Week 13 vs Kansas City (SNF) – It’s looking a lot less likely that will be KC’s AFC West clinch game. In fact, if KC stumbles next week, OR the Raiders win either tonight or next week, OR the Chargers beat the Packers, OR Denver wins both tomorrow night and next week, that won’t be the Chiefs’ clinch game, with a day left before the last 12-day SNF window expires. The problem is the best unprotected game now involves a 5-5 team, though it does at least involve division leaders.

    Week 14 at NY Giants (MNF) – The TNF double-flex is now off the table, and the Jets are only .500. However the Giants just might be worse than the Packed-It-Ins (side note – I’m surprised the official TV network of the Cowboys didn’t stick with the last 2 minutes of that 5-plus TD shellacking), and the Texans are now must-see TV with no prime-time appearances on the schedule. Book that as your first MNF flex.

    Week 17 vs Minnesota (SNF) – Against all odds, Minnesota controls their playoff destiny. Of course, a lot can change between now and Christmas, when that trigger would have to be pulled.

  5. Update – the Jets Jetted again, so the question for The Mouse is whether an up-and-coming Texans team is better to shove on the Ocho than the Packers.

  6. One possible reason Lions-Chargers was not flexed this past week that I think all of us overlooked:

    I believe the Chargers were maxed out on NBC/Peacock appearances because not only flexing that game would have meant three home games on NBC and Peacock (which simulcasts all NBC games) in five weeks (Bears Week 8, Ravens Week 12), it also would have meant playing four home games on the NBC family of networks since in Week 16 they are hosting the Bills in a Peacock-only game December 23. I wonder if there is an unwritten rule a team can’t play four home games on the same network (NBC and Peacock are considered the same for this purpose) and that was why Lions-Bengals was not flexed to SNF even though it was a late singleheader game.

  7. I meant obviously four home games in prime time on NBC/Peacock or ESPN (obviously any such rule doesn’t apply to afternoon games).

  8. The Packers Lost so they are 3-6 Chiefs 7-2 But That Game Is Still On Shaky Ground And Not in The best Shape So I Think That Chiefs Packers will be flexed out next week that’s if i’m right

  9. After week 10 comes to an end here is what I think will happen with flex scheduling for the rest of the season outside of Thursday Night Football:

    Week 12: I think Bears Vikings will stay on MNF since I don’t think the NFL wants the Jaguars in back to back weeks on MNF since the Jaguars host the Bengals on MNF in week 13. With the Vikings being 6-4. Chiefs Raiders is a possibility but I think Bears Vikings stays on MNF, Chargers Ravens will stay on SNF in week 12 for sure.

    Week 13: I think Chiefs at Packers for SNF gets flexed out in favor of Lions Saints, Broncos Texans, Dolphins Commanders, Browns Rams. Bengals at Jaguars will for sure on MNF.

    Week 14: I think Packers Giants gets flexed out of MNF in favor of Texans at Jets, I think Dolphins Titans the other Monday Night game gets possibly flexed out for maybe Jaguars Browns, Vikings Raiders as possibilities. Eagles at Cowboys is a lock to stay on SNF.

    Week 15: I think the NFL Network will have the following games for it’s Triple header on that Saturday, Vikings at Bengals, Broncos at Lions and Steelers at Colts. I think Eagles at Seahawks replaces Chiefs Patriots on Monday Night Football.

    Week 16: I think the 2 games on Saturday December 23rd Bengals at Steelers and Bills at Chargers are locked into their slots as part of that NBC/Peacock doubleheader. I also think sadly Broncos Patriots is locked in as well on Sunday Night Christmas Eve.

    Week 17: Too early to tell right now if Packers at Vikings will stay on SNF, Lions Cowboys will likely

    Week 18: Too early to tell for what will the Saturday ESPN/ABC Doubleheader will be and the Final Game of the Regular Season will be on NBC.

  10. Week 17: Too early to tell right now if Packers at Vikings will stay on SNF, Lions Cowboys will likely stay ESPN/ABC on Saturday December 30th which could have huge playoff implications.

  13. Ik this is highly unlikely, but if Chiefs-Packers is taken out of SNF, Broncos-Texans may be the frontrunner to replace it over Lions-Saints with a Denver & Houston win. Then, KC/GB is moved to 10 AM as the CBS main game & IND/TEN is moved to 1:05 PM. This is possibly one of the best chances the NFL has to show the Texans to lots of people.

  14. One thing that stands out to me is how awful FOX’s week 12 slate is. They were likely going to use Patriots-Giants as their main game, but that panned out horribly. Do Burkhardt and Olsen even call a game? If so, what game do they call?
    I highly doubt Chiefs-Packers will get moved. Saints aren’t good enough to be moved into SNF over the Chiefs, nor are the Broncos or Texans.
    CBS has a very weak slate for Week 13.. they were probably expecting to use Chargers-Patriots as their main game, which they still might, but at this point, we might see Romo/Nantz on Broncos/Texans in the late singleheader.
    It will be interesting if the NFL chooses to place Texans-Jets on MNF over Packers-Giants, which is a very real possibility, but would probably require the Jets to beat either the Bills or Dolphins so that they’re not 4-7, which wouldn’t be good enough for a MNF move. Not sure if Burkhardt/Olsen will be on Rams-Ravens or Seahawks-49ers, probably the latter.
    I’m hoping that Eagles-Seahawks replaces Chiefs-Patriots, but at this point, I don’t think it’s gonna happen. The Chiefs are prime rating draws and the Patriots haven’t quite lost their name value yet.
    Saints-Rams stays on TNF week 16. Do Burkhardt/Olsen call Cowboys-Dolphins or Giants-Eagles? I’d expect the former, as we saw on Christmas last year too. Joe Davis probably gets the call on Christmas.
    Week 17 – even if the Vikings are still in contention for a playoff spot, Packers-Vikings really needs to be moved. I’m begging, NBC, please put Dolphins-Ravens!! It appears that FOX might protect Steelers-Seahawks.
    Week 18 – we can’t really tell which Saturday games will move until week 16ish, but any of the AFC North games seem likely. Depending on if the Bills rebound, we could still see Bills-Dolphins for the AFC East. Vikings-Lions has some intrigue for SNF, if the Lions are playing for seeding and maybe the Vikings are playing for a playoff spot. Still a lot to determine until then..
    My prediction for the Saturday slate is 1pm Steelers-Colts, 4:30pm Broncos-Lions, 8:15pm Vikings-Bengals.

  15. Walt’s Lover:
    I expect that Saints-Falcons ends up the main FOX game getting the most distribution. On the thanksgiving week, the singleheader network does not have their A-Team announce a game.

    And if Chiefs/Pack does get flexed Week 13, It’ll be for Broncos-Texans. If not, it either stays at 1:05, allowing the game to pick up the NYC market, but getting capped at 50% distribution, or it goes to 10 AM, getting more distribution, but not getting NYC as the Jets play at the same time. There are a couple scenarios that could happen for Week 13:

    If everything stays as-is, I think Nantz/Romo calls the game, & it gets shown to most of the west coast sans Arizona & LA, along with the markets that have their local team at 10 AM.

    If Broncos-Texans is moved to 10 AM, most markets get that game besides the ones with their local team on FOX, & Colts-Titans is moved to 1:05.

    In the very unlikely case Broncos-Texans is moved to SNF, Colts-Titans moves to 1:05 with Chiefs-Pack at 10 AM & the main game for CBS that week.

    For Week 14, I think either Texans-Jets moves to MNF as both the G-Men & Cheeseheads probably end up with a combined record of 5-16 by the deadline to make changes for this week, or Titans-Dolphins is switched to ABC while Packers-Giants is moved to ESPN except in the Green Bay & New York markets for the same reason as above.

    For Week 15, I think you’re worrying a bit too much about Chiefs-Pats staying because the Eagles & Seahawks are two good teams with large fanbases. I also agree with your choices for the Saturday slate Week 15.

    And for Christmas, I believe FOX & CBS A-Teams call a Christmas game if their respective network is the singleheader that week. In 2021, when FOX had the singleheader in Week 16, Rams-Vikings (FOX game with most distribution) was called by Adam Amin & Mark Schlereth, while Buck/Aikman called the Christmas game (Browns-Packers)

    Week 17 I expect Steelers-Seahawks to move to SNF, as a Dolphins-Ravens move leaves CBS too barren in the early slot, along with PIT/SEA being better than 49ers-Commanders & Saints-Bucs (The best FOX early games that week)

  17. So with the Cincinnati Bengals just announcing moments ago that Joe Burrow’s season is over after suffering a torn ligament in his right wrist in last night’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday Night Football. Does the NFL now keep in week 13 on Monday Night Football Bengals at Jaguars or will it go with Saints Lions or Broncos Texans? What does the NFL do with Packers Chiefs that is the week 13 game on SNF? For week 15 will the NFL select Vikings Bengals as one of the 3 games part of that Saturday Triple Header? I think the NFL will keep Bengals at Steelers on Saturday December 23rd on NBC in the afternoon. Does the NFL in week 17 keep Bengals at Chiefs as the main CBS DH game or go with something else like Dolphins Ravens? All TBD

  18. Robert:

    1. Yes, Bengals-Jags probably keeps its spot.

    2. KC/GB won’t get flexed to SNF unless Denver & Houston win while GB loses, but even then I wouldn’t hold my breath on that happening.

    3. I expect the Saturday Week 15 slate to look like this:

    10 AM: Bears-Browns

    1:30 PM: Broncos-Lions

    5:15 PM: Steelers-Colts

    Vikes-Bengals becomes the lead early FOX matchup, while Falcons-Panthers goes to CBS with minimal coverage.

    4. No Week 16 flexing besides TNF, & that isn’t gonna change.

    5. No time slot changes Week 17, but I’d expect Chargers-Broncos to get more distribution, & maybe Romo/Nantz on the call if things shake out right.

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