Tag: prime time

Steelers draw 3 prime time games in 4 weeks on 2024 schedule

The Steelers have a brutal schedule in 2024.

On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL released their 2024 regular-season schedule and oh boy is it a doozy. The league has handed the Steelers a brutal slate of games and head coach Mike Tomlin’s streak of seasons without a losing record.

A huge reason this season is particularly daunting is the month of October. The NFL gave the Steelers all tricks and no treats when they put Pittsburgh on the schedule for three prime-time games in four weeks during the month. For the season, Pittsburgh has four games in prime time.

The only upside is the Steelers get all three of the games at Accrisure Stadium. Here’s how the month breaks down.

Week 5 vs the Cowboys (SNF)

Week 6 @ Las Vegas Raiders

Week 7 vs New York Jets (SNF)

Week 8 vs New York Giants (MNF)

Throwing that cross-country road trip to Las Vegas doesn’t help this stretch one bit. But the reality is, this four-game stretch isn’t as treacherous as Weeks 15-17 when the Steelers get the Philadelphia Eagles on the road, followed by the Baltimore Ravens on the road and then come home to take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day all in a span of 10 days.

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Saints only receive three prime time games in 2024

The New Orleans Saints only received three prime time games in 2024. They need to prove they’re ready for the bright lights:

Are the New Orleans Saints ready for prime time? The NFL’s broadcasting partners don’t seem to think so. The Saints were given just three prime time night games on their 2024 schedule, per multiple reports.

In addition to a Thursday Night Football matchup with Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos on Oct. 17, the Saints will also get Monday Night Football showcases with the Kansas City Chiefs (Oct. 7) and Green Bay Packers (Dec. 23). Remember, Thursday night games are broadcast on Amazon Prime Video while Monday night games are carried on ESPN.

This is a far cry from the Saints’ heyday; in 2018, for example, they played five night games while drawing the coveted feature on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. But they haven’t played a Sunday night game since 2021. Losing seasons and extended playoff droughts will do that. Let’s hope the Saints can turn that perception around with a strong performance in 2024.

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Broncos have a chance to make a statement in prime time

Over the next two weeks, the Broncos can prove to a national audience that they are playoff contenders.

The Denver Broncos won back-to-back games going into their bye, but the team is still only 3-5 coming out of the break.

Are the Broncos a true contender to get back into the playoff hunt, or were those pre-bye victories more of a fluke than a sign of things to come? We’ll find out soon enough.

Denver is set to play the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football in Week 10 followed by a Sunday Night Football showdown with the Minnesota Vikings in Week 11. The Broncos will now have a national audience looking on as they attempt to prove they are a serious team going into the second half of the season.

“I think it’s something we bring up,” coach Sean Payton said earlier this week when asked about the team playing in prime time in consecutive weeks. “The one thing we do know is if you’re significant, you begin to play on a lot of these hours and these primetime night games — Thursday night, Christmas Eve, Sunday night, Monday night. The less significant you become, your chances of — you might play one of those a year.

“For us, it’s two-fold. We’re playing good teams. Buffalo has been a perennial playoff team and right on the cusp of being in a handful of Super Bowls. [They are] a team that we have got great respect for. Sean [McDermott] has been fantastic there in what he’s done, and I think they present a huge challenge, especially in Buffalo in the month of November. … To play them on Monday night, those are great challenges. The competitor in you wants to play in front of large audiences and in important games, so these are those opportunities.”

If the Broncos win at least one of their next two games and look competitive in each contest, national pundits might start to believe Denver is capable of making a playoff push. If the Broncos are dominated by the Bills on prime time, on the other hand, the pre-bye hype will quickly fade away. Denver has talked the talk, now it’s time to back it up on the field.

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Broncos likely won’t be eligible for ‘Thursday Night Football’ flexing in 2023

As the schedule currently stands, the Broncos aren’t eligible to be flexed in or out of ‘Thursday Night Football’ games in 2023.

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Last week, NFL owners approved a one-year trial run for flexible scheduling for Thursday Night Football, with a few very significant restrictions.

Two of the restrictions are (1) the timeframe — only games from Weeks 13-17 are eligible to be flexed in or out of TNF — and (2) that no team will play more than one TNF game on the road (each team can play up to one at home and one away).

With those two caveats in mind, we already know that the Denver Broncos are not currently eligible for TNF flexing this season. The Broncos are scheduled to play in a road TNF game in Week 6. Later in the year, they play on the road from Weeks 13-15 and again in Week 18.

Because they will already have played on the road in Week 6, they won’t be eligible for another road TNF game. Denver’s two home games during the TNF flex window aren’t eligible, either. The first one is already scheduled to be a prime-time Christmas Eve showdown with the Patriots in Week 16.

The other game is a home Sunday afternoon showdown with the Chargers in Week 17. That game won’t be eligible for TNF, either, because Los Angeles is scheduled to play a road TNF game against the Raiders in Week 15, so the Chargers couldn’t play a second road TNF game in Denver.

Of course, if that LA-Las Vegas game is moved out of TNF, the Chargers would then be eligible to play the Broncos on TNF in a flexed game. Clear as mud, right?

As the schedule stands now, Denver is not currently eligible to have a game moved in or out of TNF lineup during the 2023 season. That could change, but it seems unlikely.

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Broncos have 4 prime-time games on 2023 schedule

The Broncos have four prime-time games on their 2023 schedule and two late-season games are candidates for a national spotlight as well.

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Following the arrival of quarterback Russell Wilson last offseason, the Denver Broncos received a lot of love from the NFL’s schedule makers.

The Broncos were given five prime-time games — Monday Night Football (twice), Sunday Night Football (twice) and Thursday Night Football — on their initial 2022 schedule, plus two more nationally-televised games (one in London and one on Christmas Day).

The national spotlight backfired as Denver’s offense was painful to watch in 2022 and late in the season, the team’s own fans were asking for the Broncos to be flexed out of primetime (they were flexed out of SNF in Week 14).

The league’s schedule makers apparently expect the team to bounce back under new coach Sean Payton in 2023. Denver has been given four prime-time games on the 2023 schedule: Week 6 at the Chiefs (TNF), Week 10 at the Bills (MNF), Week 11 vs. the Vikings (SNF) and Week 16 vs. the Patriots (SNF).

The Broncos also have opportunities for two more prime-time games — Week 15 at the Bills (Dec. 16 or 17) and Week 18 at the Raiders (Jan. 6 or 7) could be played in a nationally-televised Saturday game. The NFL will finalize those late-season games later this year.

To view the Broncos’ complete schedule for the 2023 season, click here.

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NFL gives New Orleans Saints three prime time games on 2023 schedule

The NFL gave the New Orleans Saints three prime time games on their 2023 schedule, but two of them fall on much-maligned Thursday nights:

Let’s start with the good news: the NFL released its 2023 schedule of regular season games on Thursday, and the New Orleans Saints have been awarded three slots in prime time, where they’ll be featured in nationally-broadcast contests.

And now the bad news. Two of those matchups are going to fall in the dreaded Thursday night slate, meaning at best weird vibes and at worst a terrible upset defeat. Let’s explore each matchup that’s going to kick off under the bright lights:

Broncos vs. Rams can’t be flexed out of Christmas Day spotlight

The Rams will host the Broncos on Christmas Day in a nationally-televised game on CBS.

When the NFL scheduled the Denver Broncos to face the Los Angeles Rams on Christmas Day in May, the game seemed like an intriguing matchup at the time.

The Matthew Stafford-led Rams would be defending their Super Bowl title this fall and a late-season showdown with the Russell Wilson-led Broncos could have big playoff implications for both teams. In theory. In May.

Seven months later, Stafford is injured, Wilson has been underwhelming and both teams are already eliminated from playoff contention.

Sunday’s game is locked into a nationally-televised spotlight on CBS, though, and it’s not eligible to be flexed into another window. The contest will actually be televised on two networks — Nickelodeon will also carry the game.

The Rams are a little more intriguing following the arrival of Baker Mayfield, and the Broncos have been playing a little better over the last two weeks. So it’s possible that Sunday’s showdown could end up being a decent game, but there won’t be any playoff implications on the line.

Merry Christmas, football fans.

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After being flexed out of ‘SNF,’ Broncos still have one more nationally-televised game on schedule

The 3-8 Rams are set to host the 3-8 Broncos in a nationally-televised game on Christmas Day. Yay!

Rejoice, football fans, the Denver Broncos won’t play any more games in a prime-time window this season!

Denver’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 14 was flexed out of the Sunday Night Football time slot on Tuesday. That was the Broncos’ last scheduled prime-time game of the season.

Unfortunately for neutrals (and for Denver fans who are tired of watching their team be embarrassed in a national spotlight), the Broncos do have one more nationally-televised game remaining on their schedule.

The NFL will play most of its Week 16 games on Christmas Eve (Saturday) this year 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.

With Los Angeles and Denver both sitting at the bottom of their respective divisions with 3-8 records, the NFL probably regrets scheduling them for a Christmas Day showdown, but this game is not eligible to be flexed. Bah humbug!

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Chiefs-Chargers Week 11 game flexed to ‘Sunday Night Football’

The #Chiefs are getting another ‘Sunday Night Football” game with their Week 11 game against the #Chargers getting flexed to prime time.

The Kansas City Chiefs are getting another prime-time game.

The NFL announced on Tuesday that the Chiefs’ Week 11 game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Nov. 20 at SoFi Stadium has been flexed to “Sunday Night Football” on NBC at 8:20 p.m. ET. The game was originally set to take place at 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS, but will now be played in the league’s featured slot on Sunday night. This game will replace the Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers game, which was originally scheduled for the Sunday night game.

With the Chargers sitting at a 5-3 record through eight games, it’s likely that the league and networks believe that this game will have significant implications in the AFC West. The Chiefs have already defeated Los Angeles 27-24 in Week 2 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, but the upcoming Week 11 game could be very important for Los Angeles in terms of their postseason hopes. If they win, it could keep them alive in the playoff race, but if they lose, it could give other divisions a leg up in the wildcard hunt.

Assuming that the Chiefs’ “Sunday Night Football” game against the Denver Broncos in Week 14 remains and is not flexed itself, the Week 11 game will be the fifth prime-time game for Kansas City this season and bring the total up to six. They’ve already played the Buccaneers and Titans on Sunday night, they also played the Raider on Monday night and their first game against the Chargers came on Thursday night.

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Sick of the Broncos, NFL fans? Too bad! More prime-time games are on deck

The Broncos have two more prime-time games and four more nationally-televised games on their schedule.

The Denver Broncos played three prime-time games in the first five weeks of the season and the team scored 16, 11 and 9 points in those contests.

Denver’s awful offense has made football fans sick of watching the Broncos, and the team has been roasted on Twitter after their dismal performances.

Unfortunately for the NFL fans who are tired of Denver, the Broncos will be back in prime time when they face the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football in Week 6.

And there are more nationally-televised games after that, too.

Denver’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London in Week 8 won’t be in prime time as it’s a 7:30 a.m. MT kickoff, but it will be nationally televised (nationally streamed?) for anyone who has ESPN Plus.

After that, the Broncos will play on Sunday Night Football against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 14 (if that game isn’t flexed out of SNF).

Then the team will have a nationally-televised Christmas Day game against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 16. That game won’t be in prime time (it’s a 2:30 p.m. MT kickoff), but it will be nationally televised on CBS, and there will be an alternate broadcast on Nickelodeon.

So the Broncos have two more games in prime time and four more nationally-televised games on deck. Buckle up, football fans.

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