Everybody knows how the NFL operates, even with the league being around a century. Throw a football game on between two teams, and people are likely to watch in the early part of the year.
Of course, the Sunday night primetime games usually give all the attention to great matchups. Unfortunately, for NBC, they will be faced with us Sunday night crisis in round 6.
When the schedule came out in April, the game that jumped out at me for that week was the Sunday night matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the team formerly known as the San Diego Chargers. I refer to them as the Carson City Chargers only because I refuse to refer to them as a Los Angeles team. Why would you play in a major market and only have a 27,000 seat StubHub soccer stadium to play in?
Before the season started, it looked like we would see two pretty good teams that will be contending to make playoff noise in January. Now, it seems as if everything is changed, especially for one of them.
The Steelers recently lost Ben Roethlisberger for the season with an elbow injury. It is now Mason Rudolph’s team barring an unlikely trade. They’ve already sent backup Joshua Dobbs to Jacksonville. Now, it looks pretty certain that the Steelers will probably not be a playoff contender this season. Meanwhile, the Chargers are coming off a very nice season and even though they lost a tough game to Detroit on Sunday, they still deserve some prime time attention.
The problem is, where will get they get it, given the confines that they’re playing at home? Should they have moved that football game to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to accommodate more fans? That probably would have been the more logical idea.
The NFL’s divisional playoff weekend last year potentially had a nightmarish situation for the NFL and Los Angeles, which luckily did not happen. And the nightmare was quickly extinguished when the Chiefs beat the Colts. But what if it happened the other way around? We all know that later that night the Rams beat the Cowboys at the Coliseum. But what if the Eagles beat the Saints the next day? Then the Eagles would travel to the Coliseum and play the Rams for the NFC championship game. If the Colts won, then what if the Chargers stunned New England in Foxboro? Then there would’ve been a championship weekend all throughout Los Angeles.
Now, the Chargers are probably the biggest losers of national attention thanks to a national team in the Steelers and no Ben Roethlisberger. However, this puts NBC in a major bind for programming.
For Sunday Night Football, no game is moved for the first four weeks of the season. However, from weeks 5-10, a maximum of two of the six matchups could be flexed, and then from week 11 on any game can be flexed, with the most important game chosen to be aired on NBC for the final week as no games are protected.
Looking ahead, week 5 for Sunday night features the Colts and the Chiefs, then week 6 has the currently scheduled Steelers/Chargers game. Then, the next four matchups (up to week 10) feature the Eagles and Cowboys, Packers and Chiefs, Patriots and Ravens, and finally the Vikings and Cowboys. The only game that could possibly be flexed out of those six are the Steelers and Chargers, based on Rothlisberger’s injury.
But what game can replace it? This is where NBC programming and the NFL is having a big issue.
Remember that the network having the doubleheader for that weekend gets to protect one of the games. For week 6, it is CBS, and not many people know that this is the scheduled game for CBS and it’s probably a mortal lock that they will protect the Cowboys/Jets game which Jim Nantz and Tony Romo are guaranteed to broadcast. It’s an easy commute for them from West 57th.
There’s no way that game will be on NBC, especially with Dallas scheduled for the following Sunday night at home against Philly.
Looking at the rest of the week 6 matchups, which one would NBC choose? Remember, a starting time change would require 13 days notice for the NFL and its networks. The Bears, Colts, Raiders, and Bills all have that weekend off.
Giants/Patriots opens the week on a Thursday night, Panthers/Buccaneers will already be playing in London that Sunday, and Lions/Packers finish on Monday night. So those three games are obviously out.
Falcons/Cardinals and Titans/Broncos certainly won’t interest the nation. Forget those. Even NBC could consider a Sunday night comedy lineup with the Redskins/Dolphins…yeah right.
They could do Texans/Chiefs. But Kansas City already has two Sunday night games in a four week stretch. Three Sunday night games in four weeks just does not look good on any schedule.
They could do Eagles/Vikings. The problem is, the Eagles play the next Sunday night in Dallas, which would put them as three Sunday Night road games in a six week stretch. Certainly not fair to them. Plus, the only way this would work is if NBC flexed the week 15 matchup in Carson between the Vikings and Chargers, which is currently on the Sunday night schedule. But it probably won’t happen based on the Eagles’ dilemma.
They could do Saints/Jaguars, but both Drew Brees and Nick Foles are out for a significant amount of time! Who wants to see two backup quarterbacks for Sunday night football battle it out in an inter-conference game? Plus, Jacksonville is never featured nationally unless they play a national team (Patriots, Steelers, Bears, Giants, etc.—when both teams are good).
They could try the Seahawks and the Browns, but why would Cleveland be featured four times on national TV in a matter of six weeks? As of right now, they haven’t proven anything yet.
There is a slight chance that NBC could choose the Bengals and Ravens. If Cincinnati gets off the deck, and the Ravens continue their winning ways, Baltimore could get another Sunday night home game added to the mix besides the Patriots game that is already scheduled for week 9. However, from a national perspective, don’t count on this happening.
This leaves only one matchup which probably makes the most sense, even if there are plenty of concerns.
NBC will probably switch out the Chargers with the Rams, as they are at home against a surging 49ers team. If the 49ers keep up their winning ways the next two weeks, and the Rams hold her ground, that potentially could be a very good Sunday night matchup.
The problem is, this maxes out the Rams for national appearances, as they have Sunday night matchups scheduled later in the year at home between the Bears and Seahawks (they would have already played one Sunday Night game at Cleveland at this point), neither of which are likely to be flexed. In addition, the 49ers are not on the Sunday night schedule, but they have a Thursday night game and two Monday night games already cemented.
NBC at least has two weeks to make a decision to flex the Steelers/ Chargers game. Whether they choose to flex out the game, or keep the one they have, there are going to be some very serious issues.
Don’t be surprised if the week 6 game stays in Los Angeles, switching sporting venues to the legendary LA Coliseum and away from a measly soccer stadium not made for NFL standards.
Besides, this is the final year for the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Let’s give the stadium the respect it has long deserved for the many magical moments that venue has hosted over many decades.
Crazy Tom Sports 