Hard to believe that we have arrived at Week 8, but here we are. Let’s discuss what’s in store for this very unique Sunday.
So there’s another game in London?
Yes, Detroit-Atlanta at Wembley Stadium (Fox, Thom Brennaman/Troy Aikman//Charissa Thompson). It’s the second game in the UK this season. It also marks the earliest NFL regular season start ever, at 9:30 a.m. ET/6:30 a.m. PT. There’s a method to this madness. The NFL is experimenting with the early start as a way to determine if the 9:30 a.m. kickoff will become permanent when the league firmly establishes a base in the UK, i.e. a team.
By the way, the next game in London will be in Week 10 or November 9 when the Dallas Cowboys take on the Jacksonville Jaguars. Just like today’s game, the Week 10 London game will be on Fox.
What else is unique about this week? We have two crossflex games. Yes! Two!
First, the NFL sent Seattle at Carolina to CBS (1 p.m., Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts//Jenny Dell) making this the first time the Tiffany Network will air an all-NFC battle on a Sunday dating back to the 1994 NFC Championship between Dallas and San Francisco.
Here’s CBS’ farewell to the NFL at the end of the NFC Championship. Kind of sad.
In exchange, Fox received Houston at Tennessee (1 p.m., Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa).
So why did the NFL flex these two games to the “other” network? It’s part of the new TV contract that took effect this season. CBS is allowed to air select NFC games and Fox can televise selected AFC games. We’ve seen minor examples earlier in the season, but the best example was New England at Buffalo which was crossflexed from CBS to Fox in Week 6.
Starting in Week 11, the NFL can do more of these crossflex games and we’ll discuss them when the time comes.
So we have games starting at 9:30 a.m. and going past 11:30 p.m.?
That’s correct. Besides the “Wake Up at Wembley” game, there are eight 1 p.m. games, four each on CBS and Fox. The 4:05 p.m. game is Philadelphia at Arizona (Fox, Chris Myers/Ronde Barber//Jennifer Hale).
The two 4:25 p.m. games on CBS are Indianapolis at Pittsburgh (Jim Nantz/Phil Simms//Tracy Wolfson) and Oakland at Cleveland (Spero Dedes/Solomon Wilcots).
Your featured primetime game on NBC is Green Bay at New Orleans (Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth//Michele Tafoya) opposite Game 5 of the World Series.
It’s a plethora of football on this Sunday. Look for another 9:30 a.m. — midnight experiment next season if this day goes well.
So what are the Sunday morning pregame shows going to do?
Well, they’re going to deal with a game opposite them for the very first time. Expect ESPN and NFL Network to produce halftime and postgame shows for the Detroit-Atlanta game. Fox will air an early edition of Fox NFL Sunday at 9 a.m. ET and then air another edition at approximately 12:30 p.m. after the London game leading into the 1 p.m. games.
Interesting to see how the pregame shows will handle the in-progress game today.
Anything to look forward to in Week 9?
Well, Thursday Night Football will be on NFL Network only instead of being a CBS/NFLN simulcast. CBS is done with its half of the TNF schedule for now.
There will be six teams on bye, the most since Week 4 when we had also had six teams off.
And CBS will air the always intriguing Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady matchup as Denver travels to New England, but we’ll deal with that next week.
Wow! Lots of things going on this season!
Yes. And there’s going to be even more stuff as progress down the line. We’ll keep you updated!
Thanks! Anything else?
No, get ready to watch and enjoy the games starting at 9:30 a.m.