After merely moving a couple early games back to to the 4:15 p.m. slot in Weeks 10-12, the NFL decided to really mix it up in Week 13. Although it was decided almost two weeks before Week 11 that the Suck4Lucks-Patriots game would not be the Week 13 SNF game, the announcement as to who would slide into the primetime slot wasn’t made until Monday. It took a little mixing and matching, but it was finally all figured out:
The NFL on Monday announced that the Detroit Lions-New Orleans Saints game was flexed to the Sunday night spot on NBC. The Broncos-Vikings game, which originally was on CBS, was switched to Fox at 1 p.m. ET. Also, the Indianapolis Colts-New England Patriots game, which was the scheduled Sunday night game on Dec. 4, reverts to 1 p.m. on CBS and the Baltimore Ravens-Cleveland Browns game was moved to 4:05 p.m. ET on CBS.
The NFL couldn’t leave Fox with only two early games in its doubleheader week, so it took a game from CBS who had eight, according to a league source.
It is the first time that this has happened to the league’s knowledge. In the new NFL deal, there will be lots of this — switching games between networks and less emphasis on CBS being the home for AFC games and the same for Fox and NFC games.
Lions-Saints ultimately made the most sense. Texans-Falcons would’ve been a worthy candidate had Schaub not been injured. It’ll still be an entertaining game with playoff implications, but it definitely lost some of its sex appeal. The up-and-coming Lions have never played on SNF since the game moved to NBC and there’s no denying the allure of two of the game’s most explosive offenses going head-to-head — it’ll be a ratings monster.
As for potentially seeing NFC games on CBS and AFC games on FOX? Ohhh, I LIKE that.
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