NFL Flexible Scheduling Watch: Week 14

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So in the early part of this year’s iteration of this feature, I was able to fill this introductory section with some discussion of how the week’s results shaped the flex scheduling picture on a high level, leaving the details for the body of the post. In the middle portion, there seemed to be new articles or news about flex scheduling just about every week, and this section became invaluable as a place for me to leave my comments about them. Now we’re hitting the last few weeks, with only two flex scheduling weeks left, and I’m not sure what to put here. That was already the case a few weeks ago when the surprise announcement of the Week 15 flexes before the Week 13 games bailed me out, but it’s even more acute here. There’s not much in the way of anything general I could say that would apply to both weeks, although the situation in the NFC North does apply to both, and for the most part, the situations themselves are cases where I’m basically twiddling my thumbs waiting for the clock to run out. In the past this would be the last week before a decision on Week 17 flexing needed to be made, but now that there’s a formal six-day window involved there’s one more week to go through before it’s time to make any sort of firm prediction.

I will say that, despite it being responsible for knocking out a week of the Flex Schedule Watch entirely some years ago, and the NFL rendering it worthless last year, I do intend to calculate the percentage chances of each game being moved to Sunday night again. Call me crazy, but as long as I’m doing this feature I should provide some sort of structure and context to the options for the final week as we come down the stretch. Right now I’m mostly providing shots in the dark in terms of what games are in the running and why, and I should get down to business trying to figure out what the actual scenarios are. But it means next week’s post could take a long time to put together again, especially since I’m flying to Seattle next Wednesday, and also I expect John Ourand’s year-end predictions column Monday so I’d likely need to find time to squeeze that and the annual blog-day post in over the course of the week.

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 17: This week’s Monday night result worked out a bit better for CBS and the league than last week. Had the Dolphins won, they and the Ravens would have had a collective two-game lead against all other comers for the seed in the AFC, and the game between them would have almost certainly decided who would claim it. It’s still most likely going to be one of them picking up the first-round bye, but the door is at least open for the Swifties to sneak in and take it from both of them. The Packers’ loss also reopens the possibility of pulling the Sunday night flex, though 6-7 is still good enough for the last playoff spot in the top-heavy NFC (where there are four teams at 9-4 or better, one team at 7-6 that feels worse than that, and everyone else below .500). But switching the places of Packers-Vikings and Dolphins-Ravens, making the former CBS’ new lead early game, when both the Packers and Vikings remain very much in the playoff hunt, would be going down a path that the league has legitimately rarely taken, let alone would go against Mike North’s “playoff implications uber alles” statements. A lot may depend on whether there’s a chance the Packers, Vikings, or Bengals could be eliminated by game time.

Week 18: Don’t look now, but the Vikings actually control their own destiny to win the NFC North. They’re down two to the Lions with both games against them still to play, so if they win out, even if the Lions win the other two games, they’d steal the division. If the Vikings win their next three, the Lions would only need to win one of the remaining two – because if the Vikings win their next three while the Lions lose their next three, the Vikings would improbably clinch the division before Week 18, and with the Lions having dates with the red-hot Broncos and Cowboys while the Vikings have winnable contests with the Bengals and Packers, that’s very much within the realm of possibility. Of course the Vikings team that only mustered a single field goal in the last two minutes against the Raiders seems unlikely to do that, but the Lions are going to have to play a lot better than they have if they want to give Detroit fans their first division crown and home playoff game since 1993.

Cowboys-Sheriffs, Bucs-Panthers, and Texans-Colts are all rematches of games currently scheduled for the wrong conference’s network. Besides Vikings-Lions, the NFC South games remain the chief Sunday night candidates from the NFC, while Seahawks-Cardinals and Bears-Packers are potential candidates to move to Saturday; if the Niners lose their next three while the Rams win their next three Rams-Niners would decide the division, but that’s extremely unlikely and in lieu of that, the very different stakes the two teams would be playing for make even a Saturday move doubtful. In the AFC Texans-Colts appears to be strongest as a potential winner-take-all game, with the AFC North games currently looking like they pair off wrong (Ravens-Steelers’ chances to decide the division might not survive the weekend and it seems unlikely for Browns-Bengals to have guaranteed consequences for both teams, and it probably doesn’t have enough buzz for the league to pull a Lions-Packers with it), but either could still move to Saturday as could Broncos-Raiders, and Jaguars-Titans and Chiefs-Chargers could also move to Saturday as games that could determine seeding order among division winners. Bills-Dolphins has a shot at either Saturday or Sunday night, but could be in a similar place as Rams-Niners if it doesn’t decide the division. More on all this coming next week.

32 thoughts on “NFL Flexible Scheduling Watch: Week 14”

  1. My thoughts:

    Week 17: Packers-Vikings likely stays almost no matter what at this point. The fact that it’s New Year’s Eve likely makes it hard for the NFL to pull the trigger on moving Dolphins-Ravens to SNF. I suspect even if Dolphins-Ravens is for the #1 seed in the AFC, it stays a 1:00 PM game, possibly in a reverse doubleheader scenario with a slew of games moved to the 4:05/4:25 PM ET slot (with Bengals-Chiefs headlining that slot on CBS). The last time New Year’s Eve fell on a Sunday in 2017, the Ravens and John Harbaugh complained loudly about being put at 4:25 for a game against the Bengals that was then the regular season finale as many people in Baltimore did not go to the game, specifically citing being at New Year’s Eve parties and festivities. The Bengals won that game and the Ravens and Harbaugh as I remember blamed playing in a half-empty stadium for that loss that cost them a playoff berth. It would be very hard to move any game to SNF anyway because law enforcement in many areas are already busy with New Year’s Eve events and having SNF on top of that makes it difficult to move a game there.

    Week 18: With everything that happened in Week 14, it sets up some interesting scenarios. As of when this was written, I suspect Texans-Colts, especially if there is still a scramble for the final spots in the AFC will be one of the Saturday games with the other assuming one from each conference being Vikings-Lions, especially if the Vikings beat the Lions on Christmas Eve in their first meeting since then that game could be for the NFC North. I still think as of now as long as the Saints and Falcons are in a position to decide the NFC South AND that game is “win or go home,” then Falcons-Saints is the Week 18 SNF game in what is actually a HUGE rivalry game in the South.

  2. Unless the Bengals and Vikings/Packers completely falter, I don’t see any flexes in Week 17.

    Week 18 has a bunch of possible marquee matchups for playoff spots.
    BUF @ MIA could possibly be for the AFC East. Playoff positioning up in the air with CLE-CIN, HOU-IND, LAR-SF, SEA-ARI, DEN-LV, CHI-GB, JAX-TEN, HOU-IND, MIN-DET (possibly for NFC North), and ATL-NO (Possibly for NFC South). BAL-PIT, KC-LAC, BUF-MIA for possible 1 seeds. The NFC East could definitely also be up for grabs between Philly and Dallas.

    I could see the Chiefs and Cowboys on ESPN Saturday again if the flex rules don’t fully apply to Week 18.

    I could for sure see MIN @ DET, BUF @ MIA, ATL @ NO, and HOU @ IND for playoff positioning and potential division championships in the Sunday Night Football slot and the other two on Saturday also.

    I think we’re gearing up for a great season finish!

  3. You all bring up good points – I do now believe that no flexes will occur week 17, but what a shame to have a game like that not be shown to most of the country, but Packers-Vikings will be a good one with major playoff implications, as well as Bengals-Chiefs as the Bengals probably won’t be eliminated by gametime.
    What game do Burkhardt and Olsen call week 17? Steelers-Seahawks in the late window? Their slate doesn’t look very strong..

    Week 18:
    Count on Vikings-Lions being a flex if Minnesota beats them the first time. Don’t sleep on Browns-Bengals. If the bears find a way to beat the browns, don’t be shocked if they’re at 8-8 by week 18 and Bears-Packers makes it. Dolphins could easily only be one game up on the bills by week 18 which would be an automatic SNF flex. Falcons-Saints really depends on if the Saints are able to beat the Bucs in week 17, if not, it won’t make it. Count Chiefs-Chargers out now. Rams-49ers could be a good one for Saturday if the Rams are at 8-8 or 9-7. Texans-Colts is obviously still going to be important, and the league is trying to get more eyes on both teams.

  4. “Walt’s Lover:”

    I still think you could see a reverse doubleheader on New Year’s Eve where we possibly only see two games at 1:00 PM: Dolphins-Ravens on CBS for the #1 seed in the AFC and perhaps Cardinals-Eagles as the “early singleheader” game on FOX and then all other games (other than Packers-Vikings, headed on CBS by Bengals-Chiefs) at 4:05 or 4:25 PM ET. That would be a work-around so Dolphins-Ravens can be the main national game without moving it to 4:25 and angering people in Baltimore who as noted remember what happened the last time the Ravens were shifted to 4:25 on New Year’s Eve. This is something the NFL did in the past where the main national game was at 1:00 PM and the regional games were all in the late slot.

  5. Walt: Wouldn’t having more flexes on NYE be more of a burden than just one? I thought the idea was that it’s NYE so not just for Baltimore but most cities won’t want their games moved.. If you move 3 other ones thats 3 NYE logistics you have to deal with.

  6. “Walt’s Lover”:

    True, but those are from 1:00 to 4:25 PM, still the afternoon. It’s the move to Sunday night that is the real problem, especially from 1:00 PM. Baltimore was a specific case as no other city that had a game moved to 4:25 had the problems Baltimore did.

    That’s why I think we see a “reverse doubleheader” with Dolphins-Ravens the main (Nantz-Romo) game at 1:00 PM on CBS and only one game on FOX at 1:00 and everything else at 4:05/4:25 PM ET.

  8. Max:

    Under normal circumstances a reverse doubleheader would not even be considered (even if in the 1980’s, it was not unusual for CBS to have their main game at 1:00 and regional games at 4:00 PM ET). This is, however, a special set of circumstances because of what happened on New Year’s Eve in 2017, the last time that fell on a Sunday and the Ravens were moved to 4:25 with M & T Bank Stadium half-empty because ticket holders to that final game of the regular season against the Bengals did not go because many went to New Year’s celebrations that were starting early that evening as I remember in Baltimore and as noted, the Ravens and John Harbaugh were FURIOUS with the NFL over that move that they felt cost them the game and a playoff berth. The NFL likely DOES NOT want a repeat of that scenario where in this case it costs the Ravens the #1 seed in the AFC because the Dolphins beat them due to a small crowd at home. That is why in this case I think the NFL, knowing what happened in 2017 makes an accommodation for the Ravens over the objections of CBS and inverts the doubleheader with only Dolphins-Ravens on CBS at 1:00 and a single “early singleheader” game (most likely Cardinals-Eagles) on FOX at 1:00 and all other games at 4:05 on FOX and 4:25 PM ET on CBS. This seems to be a unique-to-Baltimore situation because of how they seem to do New Year’s Eve celebrations and I suspect the NFL would take that into account.

  9. After the afternoon games for Week 15:

    Now if there is going to be a flex in Week 17, could it be Saints-Bucs? That game, especially if both win next week would essentially be for the NFC South no matter what the Falcons do after their loss today. Otherwise, I still think Packers-Vikings remains SNF because that game likely will still have bearing on the NFC Wild card race.

  10. Hi, Walt. We’ll see what happens if the Vikings vs. Packers game at Minneapolis this season on week 17 stays on SNF NBC or not. I can make a scenario on what could happen on Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins this season. If Buffalo Bills beat the Chargers on the road this coming Saturday and beat the Patriots at home in Buffalo, New York on New Year’s Eve week 17 and Miami dolphins lose against the Dallas Cowboys at Miami on Christmas Eve and lose against Baltimore Ravens on week 17 New Year’s Eve, I could see Buffalo Bills vs. Dolphins game at Miami on week 18 be flexed to SNF NBC for the AFC East division title.

  11. Never mind on Saints-Bucs being SNF week 17:

    I forgot Raymond James Stadium (Bucs home) plays host to the ReliaQuest Bowl between Wisconsin and LSU at noon on New Year’s Day, and it likely would be too short of a turnaround from SNF to get the stadium ready.

  14. Here’s my proposal

    Bengals-Chiefs cross-flex to FOX at 1pm and Dolphins Ravens move to 4:25pm on CBS. How’s that?

  15. Matthew Tesfaye:
    That’s a good proposal. I like that. But we’ll be flexible about this. That’s the important thing. It’s also possible that Chiefs vs. Bengals game stays on CBS week 17 3:25 pm game for a possible Chiefs clinching the AFC west division.

  16. Matthew:

    I don’t see that happening for reasons I noted above concerning the last time New Year’s Eve fell on a Sunday and the Ravens felt being moved to 4:25 cost them a playoff berth because of a half-empty M & T Bank stadium. Saints-Bucs (which can’t be moved to SNF due to the ReliaQuest Bowl at noon the next day) looks like it will be FOX’s main game whether it is at 1:00 PM or 4:05 PM ET on FOX. Dolphins-Ravens to me will be CBS’s main game, but remain at 1:00 PM with the doubleheader flip-flopped to where the early game is the main window and FOX having ONE game at 1:00 PM (I now suspect that would be Rams-Giants because then you have in both New York and LA one local team in each window) with all of FOX’s other games (again, headlined by Saints-Bucs) at 4:05 PM ET. Again, having the main game at 1:00 PM ET is something we used to see a lot more of and doing it here would be a one-off specifically because of what happened in Baltimore the last time New Year’s Eve was a Sunday.

  17. Oops!

    Forgot Jets-Browns is Thursday night in Week 17 when I said what I did. Still applies to LA, however, which I suspect is why if we have a reverse doubleheader and Dolphins-Ravens is by itself at 1:00 PM on CBS, FOX’s lone 1:00 PM game would be Rams-Giants since the Chargers would be at 4:25 on CBS. You would in this scenario have just two games at 1:00 and 11 games at 4:05/4:25.

  18. Youre right. New Year’s Eve celebrations in Baltimore is the most likely reason why the Ravens game vs. Miami cannot be flexed. However, I am saying as a Bills fan that that game will affect the Bills’ AFC East/WC chances which I proposed in the earlier comments.

    Nevertheless if CBS protects the Dolphins-Ravens game and remain at 1pm, Nantz and Romo should be assigned to commentate the big matchup.

  20. Max:

    Heard about that a few weeks ago. Brazil is only one hour ahead of the eastern time zone.

    If that happens, I suspect that would be a FRIDAY game on Sept. 6 since the NFL will be permitted to have Friday and Saturday games in Week 1, a change from years past where it used to be the NFL was not allowed to have games air outside of local areas beginning the FIRST week of the college football season between 6:00 PM Friday and 11:59 PM Saturday (to where before Week 4 of the preseason was dumped after the 2019 season, the NFL used to have ALL of the Week 4 preseason games that Thursday night). I believe that used to be to the first Saturday in December but was extended to the second Saturday in December after 9/11 when a number of schools had to make up games scheduled for the week 9/11 happened on that second Saturday in December 2001 or had to move their conference title games to that week.

    The Brazil game I suspect would be a Friday game.

  21. The Packers Vikings Game is Not In The best Shape Both teams have played Very poorly Vikings have lost 4 straight and the Packers have lost 2 in a row that’s why these teams have played poorly nobody wants to watch that garbage but i could be right about that. But if it stays or if it’s flexed out i will not watch it i will watch something else.

  22. If the Packers lose to the Panthers next week, it might actually get flexed out week 17. Otherwise, I think it’s safe.

    We’re now three weeks away from week 18 and two weeks away from the flex.. it’s starting to look like we can actually predict these games.
    The one that stands out to everyone is Bills-Dolphins. Bills will very likely win their next two against LAC & NE, meaning that if the Dolphins at least one of Cowboys and Ravens while the Bills win out, that game will be for the division and undoubtedly SNF. Even if the Dolphins manage to clinch and they don’t have the #1 seed locked up, they could put that game on Saturday with the Bills probably not going to clinch playoffs until week 18 due to their tiebreakers.
    The next one that stands out is Colts-Texans. Both are unpredictable teams so it’s hard to say whether they’ll go 2-0, 0-2, or 1-1 in the next couple weeks but either way it’s likely that only one of the two will be in the playoffs and this game might be the deciding factor. IMO these top two are the only options for SNF.
    Another option that looks really solid is Browns-Bengals, but it still trails these two by a little bit because the Browns easily could lock up a playoff spot by week 17 but also be eliminated from the division so they wouldn’t have much to play for.
    A solid Saturday option is Vikings-Lions. It’s pretty unlikely that this is for the NFC north but it could have major implications on seeding for the Lions and whether or not the Vikings make the playoffs.
    Rams-49ers is a good option only if the 49ers haven’t clinched the 1 seed by then, but it looks pretty likely that the 49ers will have it locked up before week 18.
    Falcons-Saints has lost intrigue and is pretty unlikely going to be for the NFC south.
    Steelers-Ravens also has lost intrigue with the Steelers’ skid and Ravens’ possibility of clinching home field.

  23. In Week 17, my Packers have been blowing it lately and the matchup scheduled for SNF vs. the Vikings seems in trouble to me.

    CBS can’t protect 2 games, so either MIA/BAL or CIN/KC are good options to move to SNF. Others with a chance are NO/TB & PIT/SEA.

    In Week 18 we have a good # of options for the 2 Saturday ABC/ESPN games and SNF. At the moment I have HOU/IND as #1 for SNF, CLE/CIN #2, BUF/MIA #3, MIN/DET #4, PIT/BAL #5, and LAR/SF #6. Any of these 6 could be moved to Saturday.

    Unless TB falls out of the mix in the NFC South, I no longer see ATL/NO having much chance for SNF or the 2 Saturday games.

    The picture will be even clearer after Week 16.

    Go Pack Go in Carolina this week!

  24. Jeff:

    They will NOT move MIA-BAL to SNF for reasons I already noted AND if CBS protects that game, it will likely remain at 1:00 PM as the main game of a rare reverse doubleheader with ONE game on FOX (most likely Rams-Giants) at 1:00 PM and all other games at 4:05/4:25 PM Eastern Time (CIN-KC headlining CBS’s late games and as of now Steelers-Seahawks and Saints-Bucs headlining FOX’s singleheader games). FOX I believe doesn’t have to protect Saints-Bucs because that game I believe can’t be moved to SNF due to the ReliaQuest Bowl taking place in Raymond James Stadium New Year’s Day at Noon ET on ESPN2.

    The bigger question is do they go to a six-day flex and wait for the Week 16 games to go final before making a decision? Assuming MIA-BAL can’t be moved off 1:00 PM due to New Year’s Eve celebrations in Baltimore (and the Ravens loudly blamed being moved to 4:25 in 2017, the last time New Year’s Eve fell on a Sunday for their missing the playoffs, losing to the Bengals in a half-empty M & T Bank Stadium) AND there is a flex because the Packers lost to the Panthers, if the Steelers rebound against the Bengals on Saturday AND the Seahawks beat the Titans perhaps Steelers-Seahawks becomes SNF as that would be a 5:20 PM local start in Seattle.

  26. Joe:

    Interesting (article is behind a paywall). That is a complete 180 from 2017 when moving Bengals-Ravens to 4:25 caused M & T Bank Stadium to be half-empty because many ticket holders for that game didn’t go because of New Year’s Eve celebrations and made clear that. The Ravens and John Harbaugh as I remember BLAMED the half-empty stadium for their losing to the Bengals and that loss costing them a playoff berth. That is specifically why I felt if Dolphins-Ravens is the main game, it will be on CBS at 1:00 PM ET with that the doubleheader game and the regional games all at 4:05/4:25 PM ET (and Giants-Rams the lone 1:00 PM ET game on FOX).

    If this mayor is fine with it, he may not remember 2017.

  27. Was able to read the article after all and this sounds like to me he’s saying what he is because he doesn’t want to people to think negatively about Baltimore. The Mayor I’m not sure remembers what happened in 2017 as noted in the above post.

    It also noted we are on a six-day flex for Week 17 so they want to see what happens with other Week 16 games first (not including Thursday’s Saints-Rams game since due to the ReliaQuest Bowl at Noon on New Year’s Day Saints-Bucs likely can’t be moved to SNF) before a decision is made. Complicating matters here is the Ravens-49ers game this week is Monday Night Football and unless the Dolphins win against the Cowboys Sunday, the NFL may not wait to make a decision there.

  29. Isaiah:

    I didn’t expect there to be. Being New Year’s Eve plus the Packers-Vikings game is going to have meaning regardless of what happens early in the day as long as the Pack wins this week, I suspect the NFL realized it would be very difficult to move a game to SNF, especially since what actually would have been the most logical game to move to SNF, Saints-Bucs as noted could NOT be moved to SNF because it mean having likely less than 10 hours to get Raymond James Stadium ready for the ReliaQuest Bowl that is at Noon on New Year’s Day (and on top of it, getting people to come in during the overnight in the early hours of New Year’s Day to do it would be next-to-impossible IMO).

    The question now is, if the Dolphins win Sunday, would they make it a clear reverse doubleheader with Dolphins-Ravens the lone 1:00 PM ET game on CBS with likely Rams-Giants the lone 1:00 PM ET game on FOX in a reverse doubleheader with the regional games all at 4:05 PM ET on FOX and 4:25 PM ET on CBS?

  30. I would have two schedules in place for New Year’s Eve and announce both schedules ahead of time with regardless Dolphins-Ravens remaining at 1:00 PM:

    If the Dolphins win Sunday OR the Ravens lose Monday, the Dolphins-Ravens game New Year’s Eve is by itself on CBS at 1:00 PM to the entire country while Rams-Giants is the sole game on FOX at 1:00 PM ET. Except for Packers-Vikings on SNF, all other games are at 4:05 or 4:25 PM ET on FOX (headlined by Saints-Bucs and Steelers-Seahawks) and 4:25 PM ET on CBS (headlined by Bengals Chiefs).

    If the Dolphins lose Sunday AND the Ravens win Monday, the schedule stays as it is with no further changes. That way, if Dolphins-Ravens can decide the #1 seed in the AFC, then that game is a full national at 1:00 PM ET on CBS, otherwise, it is a regional game.

  32. Andrew:

    As noted, the game that actually looked like the most logical flex going in, Saints-Bucs, could not be flexed in due to the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year’s day at Noon ET (on ESPN) taking place on the Bucs home field. As noted, there was NO WAY Dolphins-Ravens was moving out of 1:00 PM under any circumstances and I also suspect many local authorities told the NFL not to move games to SNF because of personnel needed for New Year’s celebrations. As noted, I’d have TWO schedules for New Year’s Eve, one reflecting Dolphins-Ravens being for the #1 seed in the AFC (that game by itself at 1:00 PM ET on CBS with Rams-Giants at 1:00 PM on FOX and all other games at 4:05 or 4:25 PM ET depending on network excluding GB-MIN) and the other the game not directly affecting the #1 seed (schedule remaining as is).

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