Ok, here’s our first flex for Sunday Night Football and it comes for Week 11. The originally scheduled game in primetime was Green Bay at the New York Giants, but with the G-Men with a losing record, the NFL decided to flex it out. Into its place is Kansas City at Denver.
Originally, this was protected by CBS, but it was in 4:05 p.m. regional timeslot and was not going to be seen by a national audience. Apparently, CBS was persuaded to give it up and on Sunday, November 17, and in its place, the Tiffany Network will get San Diego at Miami in its place.
This all broke in the last hour so it’s all quite fresh.
Here’s the NFL’s announcement.
WEEK 11 FLEX SCHEDULING:
NOVEMBER 17 CHIEFS-BRONCOS GAME MOVES TO NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
PACKERS-GIANTS GOES TO 4:25 PM ET ON FOX; CHARGERS-DOLPHINS TO 4:05 PM ET ON CBSThe Week 11 Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos game on Sunday, November 17 will be played at 8:30 PM ET on NBC, the Green Bay Packers at New York Giants game at 4:25 PM ET on FOX and the San Diego Chargers at Miami Dolphins game at 4:05 PM ET on CBS, the NFL announced today.
Following is the final Week 11 NFL schedule:
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14 (WEEK 11)
(Byes: Dallas, St. Louis)
INDIANAPOLIS AT TENNESSEE 8:25 PM (ET) NFLN
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17
NEW YORK JETS AT BUFFALO 1:00 PM (ET) CBS
BALTIMORE AT CHICAGO 1:00 PM (ET) CBS
CLEVELAND AT CINCINNATI 1:00 PM (ET) CBS
OAKLAND AT HOUSTON 1:00 PM (ET) CBS
ARIZONA AT JACKSONVILLE 1:00 PM (ET) FOX
WASHINGTON AT PHILADELPHIA 1:00 PM (ET) FOX
DETROIT AT PITTSBURGH 1:00 PM (ET) FOX
ATLANTA AT TAMPA BAY 1:00 PM (ET) FOX
*SAN DIEGO AT MIAMI 4:05 PM (ET) CBS
*GREEN BAY AT NEW YORK GIANTS 4:25 PM (ET) FOX
SAN FRANCISCO AT NEW ORLEANS 4:25 PM (ET) FOX
MINNESOTA AT SEATTLE 4:25 PM (ET) FOX
*KANSAS CITY AT DENVER 8:30 PM (ET) NBC
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18
NEW ENGLAND AT CAROLINA 8:40 PM (ET) ESPN
The NFL uses “flexible scheduling” on Sundays in Weeks 11-17. Flexible scheduling ensures quality matchups in all NFL Sunday time slots in those weeks and gives teams a chance to play their way onto primetime and into the late-afternoon 4:25 PM ET time slot on CBS or FOX.
For each flexible scheduling week with the exception of Week 17, the NFL announces the start times of games on Sundays no later than 12 days prior to that weekend. To ensure a Sunday night game and doubleheader games with playoff implications in Week 17, flexible scheduling decisions for that Sunday can be made on six days notice.
CBS has a statement about the flex: “We had originally protected the Kansas City-Denver game for Week 11. After discussions with the NFL we made a one-time accommodation so that the game can be seen by a national audience which we could not provide during our regionalized singleheader weekend.”
CBS has protected the second Denver at Kansas matchup on December 1 and that is scheduled for the 4:25 p.m. ET national window. It will not be flexed to primetime.
That’s all.
