Your 2014 NFL Week 9 Primer

So we have just 11 games today?
Yes, because we have six teams on byes, Atlanta, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay and Tennessee, there are an odd number of games. It leaves CBS with three games and Fox with four in the 1 p.m. ET window and just three late afternoon games. It also gives NBC a dog game on Sunday night between Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

So we don’t have as many games today as usual. Certainly we have more games next week?
Nope. There will be six teams getting the bye in Week 10 as well. But the numbers of teams off will reduce in Weeks 11 and 12 and then all teams will be playing in Week 13. Byes will end in Week 13.

We’ll just have to make due today. What are the games of the day if Sunday Night Football isn’t?
Arizona at Dallas (Fox, 1 p.m. ET, Joe Buck/Troy Aikman//Erin Andrews) will be a juicy matchup even if the Cowboys don’t have Tony Romo playing today.

The other big game is of course that fabled rivalry, St. Louis at San Francisco at 4:05 p.m. on Fox. What? No? Oh, I’m just kidding.

The other big game of the day is that fabled rivalry, Brady vs. Manning and the Denver Broncos at the New England Patriots. CBS has it at 4:25 p.m. ET with Jim Nantz, Denver’s favorite announcer Phil Simms and Tracy Wolfson.

No flexes? Crossflexes?
Not this week. It’s the traditional rules this week. Tampa Bay at Cleveland? Philadelphia at Houston? It’s on Fox just like the old days. Oakland at Seattle? That’s on CBS.

And there aren’t any more flexes until Week 11 as the NFL has done its two flexes in between Weeks 5 and 10.

Anything else we should know today?
Not today. Enjoy the games.

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013. He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television. Fang celebrates the three Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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