On Sunday, Nov. 1, Carrie Underwood is going to try to convince NFL fans she's been waiting all day for a matchup between two teams with a combined three wins. That's an easier sell in Week 3 than it is in Week 8.
The 1-4-1 Washington Commanders are due to host the 2-5 Philadelphia Eagles on "Sunday Night Football" this week. While the NFL had a deadline of Oct. 20 to move a different matchup to occupy the prime-time slot on NBC for Week 8, the league opted to keep things as-is.
There are plenty of other interesting matchups set to kick off earlier in the day on Nov. 1 that might have slotted in nicely to a game broadcast to a national audience. Steelers-Browns is a battle for first place. Chiefs-Broncos is, too. And the Lions-Vikings game is another
divisional rival game between two teams with winning records.
Week 8 would not have been the earliest a game has been flexed out of "Sunday Night Football" – but it would have been second-earliest.
In 2018, the NFL flexed a game between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams out of prime time in Week 7. At the time, the Rams were undefeated, but the 49ers were 1-4 and missing then-starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
With precedent for earlier flexes out there and several better matchups for "Sunday Night Football," why is the league sticking with Commanders-Eagles in Week 8? Here's what to know about the league's "flexible scheduling" rules:
NFL flex schedule rules
According to NFL.com, the first iteration of the league's flexible scheduling rules were implemented in 2006 "to promote quality matchups on Sunday nights and give surprise teams a chance to play their way onto primetime."
To avoid scheduling chaos, the league has specific guidelines for when and how often it can flex games into (and out of) prime-time slots. These guidelines differ for the three weekly slots available: "Thursday Night Football," "Sunday Night Football" and "Monday Night Football."
Here's how they look, per NFL.com:
- Sunday Night Football: Can be flexed up to twice between Weeks 5-10, and any game during Weeks 11-17. The NFL must decide and notify all involved teams of the switch 12 days in advance for Weeks 5-13. After Week 13, the league only needs to notify teams six days in advance.
- Monday Night Football: Can be flexed any week between Weeks 12-17. As with its Sunday night counterpart, "MNF" flexes require 12 days of notice. Unlike its Sunday night counterpart, that window never shrinks to six days.
- Thursday Night Football: Can be flexed up to twice between Weeks 13-17. Those decisions must "be made no later than 21 days prior to the game."
Why didn't the NFL flex 'Sunday Night Football' in Week 8?
According to Rob Tornoe of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the "NFL seriously considered flexing in Browns (5-2) vs. Steelers (5-2) on SNF next week." So why didn't they?
The explanation could come down to the other networks that the league would be getting involved with in any flexing decision. NBC has the rights to "Sunday Night Football," but Fox and CBS split the rights to the rest of the Sunday slates during the NFL season.
Moving a different game to "Sunday Night Football" in Week 8 would mean pushing Commanders-Eagles onto a different network, and the networks have rules about protecting games they initially had rights to broadcast.
According to multiple reports, CBS is entitled to the rights for at least one game in each division rivalry for the 16 AFC teams. Fox is entitled the same for the 16 NFC teams.
The three best matchup options the league might have chosen to flex into "Sunday Night Football" in Week 8 – Vikings at Lions, Chiefs at Broncos, Browns at Steelers – either already had a matchup in prime time (the latter two) or are scheduled for a future game in prime time (Vikings-Lions is "SNF" in Week 15). That means CBS, per reports, needs to be allowed to keep Chiefs-Broncos and Browns-Steelers, while Fox gets to hold onto Vikings-Lions.
Ultimately, the NFL let the Oct. 20 flex deadline for Week 8 pass and, ostensibly, remains in good graces with CBS and Fox – if not NBC, which is stuck with Commanders-Eagles.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Eagles vs. Commanders is an ugly Sunday Night Football game. Why wasn't it flexed?
