The NFL may have interest in flexing its “Sunday Night Football” matchup for Week 8, but there’s a chance it’ll be forced to stick with the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders.
According to Rob Tornoe of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the NFL has already considered the possibility of bumping the Eagles and Commanders out of the 8:20 p.m. slot on Nov. 1 due to both teams’ recent struggles.
One one hand, you have the Eagles at 2-3 with an offense that looks absolutely broken. And on the other hand, you have the Commanders at 1-3-1 and coming off one of the most head-scratching ties you’ve ever seen.
While it’d make sense for the NFL to flex out the Eagles-Commanders game, it’ll be tough to find a worthy replacement. After all, CBS and FOX will protect certain divisional matchups such as the Vikings-Lions game and Broncos-Chiefs matchup.
“Given the apparent rule that at least one game in each division rivalry must be televised in a Sunday afternoon window, Vikings-Lions, Browns-Steelers, and Chiefs-Broncos would seem to be off limits. Steelers-Browns (Week 4) and Broncos-Chiefs (Week 1) previously were televised in prime time, and the Vikings are scheduled to host the Lions on Sunday night in Week 15,” Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wrote.
Steve Roberts-Imagn Images.
Fans aren’t thrilled with the league’s broadcast restrictions.
The NFL could go with the Colts-Jaguars game, but fans ultimately believe the league has dug its own grave for Week 8.
“This is where the NFL flex scheduling rules stink. CBS automatically gets to protect Chiefs/Broncos and Browns/Steelers because the first game did not air on their network, so it can’t be that,” a fan wrote on X. “FOX automatically gets to protect Lions/Vikings because the second game is on SNF and won’t air on their network, so it can’t be that. CBS will protect Bills/Ravens as their one game. FOX will protect Jets/Raiders as their one game. That means you’re stuck with only 6 possible options for the flex, where of those 6, the best option is Colts vs Jaguars, and spoiler alert, they’re not flexing out an NFC East rivalry for Colts/Jags. There are way too many protections baked in.”
“All the networks being greedy…this is the result,” a second fan commented. “Also the two primetime games rule for divisional matchups is by far the dumbest rule out of all of them.”
“This is what the NFL gets for all the extra one off games and for expanding flex scheduling to Mondays and Thursdays. CBS and Fox dug their heels in to get additional concessions. We’ll see how that goes in the next set of contracts, but kudos to them for standing firm,” another fan wrote.
We’ll see if the NFL gives the AFC South a chance to show what it can do in the primetime slot.
