Tag: flex

NFL approves Thursday night flex scheduling and what it means for Packers in 2023

The NFL approved flex scheduling for “TNF” in 2023. What does it mean for the Packers?

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The NFL voted on Monday to approve a modified flex scheduling program for “Thursday Night Football” starting in 2023. Under the new rules, the league can flex games in and out of the Thursday night time slot between Weeks 13-17 this season. Flexing games must be done 28 days before, no team can be flexed from Sunday to Thursday night more than once per season, and no team will play more than two Thursday night games per season. Also, the league can only flex two Thursday night games per year.

What does this mean for the Green Bay Packers?

For now, not much. The Packers host the Detroit Lions for “Thursday Night Football” in Week 4, well before the flex scheduling window. The team’s only other Thursday game is on Thanksgiving Day in Detroit. The holiday matchup is not subject to flex scheduling.

However, the Packers could, in theory, get a second Thursday night game later in the season. During the flex window, the Packers play afternoon (noon kickoff) games against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers in Weeks 15 and 16, respectively. The current schedule has the Los Angeles Chargers visiting the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 15 and the New Orleans Saints visiting the Los Angeles Rams in Week 16. It’s possible the league could eventually see the Packers’ matchups against the two NFC South teams as better draws, especially if Green Bay is in the playoff hunt late in the season.

A few things to consider, however. The Packers play on the road against the New York Giants on “Monday Night Football” in Week 14, so the NFL wouldn’t consider moving Green Bay to Thursday night the very next week, taking away any possibility of Week 15’s matchup against the Buccaneers being flexed. The game to circle is Dec. 24 against the Panthers. Rams-Saints could be a shaky matchup, but Jordan Love vs. No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young could be an appealing option to flex to Thursday night.

Week 16’s Saints-Rams game could be flexed out of Thursday night slot

After initially voting against Thursday night game flexing, the Saints reversed course so that their late-season Rams game could be moved in Week 16:

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There was a lot of scrutiny on putting the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints in prime time late in the 2023 season when this year’s schedule first dropped, and it appears the NFL is already beginning to second-guess itself on that decision. A vote passed at league owners meetings this week to approve Thursday night game flexing for the upcoming season, but with some important stipulations.

Most importantly is the limited window in which games may be flexed out of the Thursday night slate: only matchups from Weeks 13 to 17 may be moved, and only two games may be flexed out of that time slot in total. That’s important information with the Saints and Rams scheduled to play at SoFi Stadium in Week 16.

Additionally, teams must be given 28 days’ notice before a Thursday night game may be flexed into a different time slot, so we’ll know by Thursday, Nov. 23 (Thanksgiving Day) whether the Saints and Rams will kick off midweek after all. The Saints will have played 10 games at that point with the Rams having 11 games to show league decision-makers how competitive they are, so if one or both teams are struggling this game could get flexed into a less-prominent window. If it is moved, it will still be played at SoFi Stadium but on Sunday, Dec. 24.

And here’s an added wrinkle: the Saints initially voted against this proposal, only to reverse course and flip their ballot when it came up again. Maybe they did that because the 28-day notice is more palatable than the initial 15-day proposal. More likely, they got a look at the schedule, saw a second Thursday night game lined up, and are hoping to get flexed out of it so that they don’t have to travel cross-country on a short week late in the season and disrupt their usual rhythm.

It’s a big blow to fans who want to, you know, attend games and get the full stadium experience. Traveling from New Orleans to Los Angeles isn’t cheap. Getting affordable NFL game tickets isn’t the easiest thing in the world, either. But as the league office continues to prioritize viewers at home and works to sell streaming subscriptions, fans who buy tickets and spend on concessions and travel to support their team are going to get left out in the cold.

Why is the NFL doing this? Amazon has made a big investment in its Thursday night series, streamed exclusively on its Prime Video service, and they want to ensure they’re putting out a product people want to tune in for. If  we get to that Nov. 23 deadline and the Saints are coming out of their bye  week at 5-5 while the Rams are improving to 4-6 (as is the case in our season predictions at Saints Wire and Rams Wire, respectively) then Amazon might implore the NFL to line up a more interesting matchup for them in Week 16. It’s something to keep an eye on in the fall, especially if you’re looking for tickets.

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Packers among teams to oppose Thursday night flex scheduling proposal

The Packers were one of eight teams to vote against the NFL’s new Thursday night flex scheduling proposal.

The Green Bay Packers were among the eight NFL teams to vote against Thursday night flex scheduling, according to Peter King of NBC Sports.

The NFL needed 24 votes to pass the change, which would make early slot Sunday games in Weeks 14-17 eligible to be moved to Thursday night – creating better matchups and likely increasing the value and attractiveness of the new Amazon television package. At the NFL Annual Meetings last month, only 22 teams voted affirmatively.

Team president and CEO Mark Murphy explained the team’s worries about the change in his monthly Q&A post at Packers.com. The big issue: Fans having to drastically change travel plans for flexed games.

“The league has allowed flexible scheduling for Sunday Night Football for many years now, but moving a game from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night is a lot different than moving a Sunday game up to Thursday for the reasons you note,” Murphy wrote. “Moreover, we will allow flexing for Monday night games this year for the first time, so we don’t know what issues may arise from this change. I believe that we do need to consider the fans in the stands, and how this would affect them – especially since so many of our fans travel a good distance to come to Lambeau Field and stay in hotels.”

Example: A fan of Team A makes long-distance travel arrangements months in advance of a game scheduled for the early Sunday timeslot. If the game was later moved to Thursday night, the fan would have to change flights, work schedules and hotels to accommodate the date and time change of the game, creating a difficult logistical challenge even if the flex is announced weeks before.

This example would be exacerbated for a team like the Packers, who have fans all over the country and often attract hordes of fans from opponents for every home game.

Is this change fair to money-paying fans? The Packers believe the answer is no.

However, King believes the NFL could still get the vote passed and in place by the league meetings next month.

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Vikings vs. Colts gets flexed to Saturday, December 17th

The Vikings will get primetime noon Kirk Cousins in Week 15

The Minnesota Vikings will be playing in the rare Saturday afternoon primetime game as their week 15 game against the Indianapolis Colts has been flexed from Sunday afternoon per the Vikings’ Twitter account.

The game is one of three that will be played on Saturday, December 17th as the college football regular season has ended. There are two other games on that Saturday and the New York Giants taking on the Washington Commanders gets flexed to Sunday night, December 18th.

This is the first time that the Vikings have gotten flexed this season and they have one more game where they could potentially be flexed the next week when they host the Giants on Christmas Eve.

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NFL has mercy on fans, flexes Broncos out of ‘Sunday Night Football’

The NFL has mercifully flexed the Broncos out of NBC’s national spotlight in Week 14. Denver will host the Chiefs in the afternoon instead.

The NFL listened to pleas from Denver Broncos fans to flex the team out of a nationally-televised game in Week 14.

The Broncos were scheduled to host the Kansas City Chiefs on NBC’s Sunday Night Football on Dec. 11, but fans in Denver made it clear on social media that they wanted the game flexed out of a prime-time spotlight.

The NFL seemed to agree that a 3-8 Broncos team facing a 9-2 Chiefs team was not an appealing matchup, so the league flexed the Los Angeles Chargers vs. Miami Dolphins game to that time slot instead.

The Broncos-Chiefs game will now be played at 2:05 p.m. MT on CBS.

Denver is now out of the prime-time spotlight for the rest of the season, but the Broncos do have one more nationally-televised game still on deck.

The NFL will play most of its Week 16 games on Christmas Eve (Saturday) with just three games set to be played on Christmas Day: Packers-Dolphins on Fox, Bucs-Cardinals on NBC and Broncos-Rams on CBS/Nickelodeon. Those three games will not have any competition on Dec. 25 and will all be nationally televised similar to a Thanksgiving Day slate of games.

The NFL will also flex a pair of Week 18 games to Saturday (Jan. 7) and one game that week to SNF, but unless Denver goes on an unexpected winning streak that puts the team in postseason contention, it’s hard to imagine the Broncos being flexed into prime time for the final week of the season.

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Broncos fans want the NFL to flex team out of ‘Sunday Night Football’

Broncos fans are hoping the team’s SNF showdown with the Chiefs is flexed out of prime time.

The Denver Broncos are currently scheduled to host the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football in Week 14. SNF contests are nationally televised on NBC, and Broncos fans don’t want to see the struggling team embarrassed in the national spotlight.

DNVR’s Andrew Mason asked fans in a poll on Sunday if they want the game to remain on SNF, and 89% of Denver fans said they hope the game is flexed to the Sunday afternoon timeslot.

Neutral fans probably feel the same way.

“Can’t imagine there’s an NFL fan out there, KC and Denver included, that doesn’t want [the game flexed],” Frank Schwab of Yahoo! Sports tweeted.

Games from Weeks 5-15 are eligible to be flexed into/out of the SNF slot, but the league has to give all teams involved at least a 12-day notice before making a schedule change. So if the NFL wants to flex the Broncos-Chiefs game out of prime time, Tuesday is the deadline to do so.

After Week 14, Denver has one more nationally-televised game on its schedule this season, a Christmas Day showdown with the Los Angeles Rams on CBS and Nickelodeon.

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Packers’ Week 15 showdown with Ravens flexed to late afternoon time slot

The Packers and Ravens game in Week 15 was moved from noon to 3:25 p.m. CT on Sunday, Dec. 19.

The Week 15 showdown between the Green Bay Packers and Baltimore Ravens is getting moved to the late afternoon time slot in an effort to maximize viewership.

On Tuesday, the NFL announced the game between the Packers and Ravens on Sunday, Dec. 19 will kick off at 3:25 p.m. CT instead of noon.

Being “America’s Game of the Week” on FOX will allow most of the country to see the battle between MVP quarterbacks and Super Bowl contenders in the NFC and AFC. Aaron Rodgers and the 9-3 Packers currently lead the NFC North and are the No. 2 seed in the conference, while Lamar Jackson and the 8-3 Ravens are the leaders in the AFC North and the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

The Packers haven’t played the Ravens in Baltimore since 2013. Green Bay lost the last meeting between the two teams at Lambeau Field in 2017.

Also, the “Sunday Night Football” matchup in Week 14 between the Packers and Chicago Bears wasn’t moved.

The Packers have a bye in Week 13.

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Broncos vs. Chiefs flexed to ‘Sunday Night Football’ in Week 13

The Broncos’ game against the Chiefs in Week 13 has been flexed to ‘Sunday Night Football’ on NBC.

The Denver Broncos will get a second prime-time game this season, after all.

Denver’s road game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 13 has been flexed to NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” window, the NFL announced Tuesday. The game was originally scheduled to be played on CBS in the early afternoon window.

To make room for the Chiefs and Broncos on “SNF,” the NFL flexed the Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers game to the mid-afternoon window. Seattle (3-7) vs. San Francisco (5-5) looked like an intriguing matchup in the offseason, but the Seahawks’ decline made the contest a poor choice for prime time.

Denver (5-5) hasn’t been overly impressive this year, but Kansas City (7-4) is back in control of the AFC West and the league will take every opportunity possible to put quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the national spotlight.

If the Broncos upset the Los Angeles Chargers (6-4) in Week 12, their matchup with the Chiefs could have big implications in the division.

Denver was originally scheduled to play in just one nationally televised game this season. The Broncos lost to the Cleveland Browns 17-14 on “Thursday Night Football” in Week 7. Denver will hope for better results in Week 13.

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Follow the Broncos Wire Podcast:
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As deadline nears, will NFL dare flex out Cowboys-49ers game in Week 15?

The combatants aren’t good, and the deadline to make a decision draws closer. Will the NFL move out Cowboys-49ers?

The Dallas Cowboys’ 2020 season has been anything but enjoyable for the fanbase. As the team has plummeted to a 3-8 record and standing as good a chance as holding a top 3 pick as they do appearing in a playoff game, the campaign has been an abject failure. Injuries have mounted to epic proportions and the team has been unable to right the ship.

Perhaps the only team that has suffered similar catastrophic injuries across the board, and possibly moreso, have been the San Francisco 49ers.  At 5-8, they are at the bottom of their own division and even though their efforts have been more gallant, they have barely been more fruitful. The fact that the two are scheduled to face each other in Week 15 wouldn’t normally register o the radar, except for the fact that it is a Sunday Night Football affair.

Will it remain that way? Since 2006, the league has had the ability to flex out the SNF matchup if it isn’t appealing to a broad audience. From Week 11, the league can swap out the predetermined matchup and replace it with something more enticing. They just need to decide 12 days in advance.

That means the deadline to flex out the December 20 matchup will be Tuesday, December 8. That means prior to the Cowboys taking on the Ravens in their moved-twice-matchup of Week 13.

As logical as it seems on the surface though, the game likely won’t be moved.

For one, the rules of what can and can’t be flexed make it difficult. The most intriguing matchup on the Week 15 schedule is a potential Super Bowl preview as the Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints collide.

However, each network is allowed to protect one game a week, and CBS would be pretty crazy to let that matchup get moved over to NBC, which hosts SNF.  The late-afternoon games draw just as much of an audience as the night games, anyway. The rest of the Week 15 schedule isn’t nearly as appetizing.

There’s Patriots-Dolphins and Bears-Vikings and… that’s about it.

The NFL isn’t stupid. Please, hold your jokes for a moment. The league knows which organizations butter their bread when it comes to getting eyeballs on their TV screens. In a season where viewership is more important than ever thanks to COVID-19 culling the in-person crowd at every venue across the U.S., the Cowboys are even more important than they have been in the past.

The latest example was when more people watched the Dallas-Washington suckfest on Thanksgiving than any other game this season; over 33 million sets tuned in.

So while Cowboys-49ers doesn’t seem enthralling on the surface, tens of millions of people will still tune in. Partially because so many want to see the Cowboys struggle, they still bring in a contingent of league fans outside of Cowboys Nation. The 49ers have national cache as well, so even though it’s likely to be a matchup of sub-.500 teams, it’s probably a safe bet the game stays right where it is, in primetime.

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Detroit Lions Week 14 game versus Packers flexed to late afternoon

Detroit Lions Week 14 game versus the Green Bay Packers has been flexed to the afternoon, and will now be played at 4:25 p.m. EST.

All of the sudden, the Detroit Lions are in demand.

After flexing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Lions Week 16 game to Saturday, December 25th, the NFL has decided to flex the Lions Week 14 game (December 13th) versus the Green Bay Packers to 4:25 p.m. EST. The game will be aired on FOX, as is traditional for this divisional matchup.

The Lions will join a group of afternoon games that features the Atlanta Falcons at LA Chargers, New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles, and Washington Football Team at San Francisco 49ers.

After firing coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn over the weekend, the Lions are surprisingly getting some attention, as people are likely interested in the shakeup, but the fact that quarterback Aaron Rodgers has the Packers in the Playoff hunt is likely the bigger draw.