It seems the league made it a point to keep the Indianapolis Colts off national television for the 2023 campaign until they prove worthy of holding a spot in prime time again.
After releasing the schedule for the 2023 regular season Thursday night, one thing became clear. The Colts currently are scheduled without a prime-time game in the typical sense.
That means the current schedule features no games on Thursday, Sunday or Monday night. Not having a Thursday night game should be counted as a win considering the difficult turnaround teams make on a short week.
But fans also want the opportunity to watch their favorite teams in prime time.
The closest the Colts get to a prime-time game is the overseas matchup against the New England Patriots in Week 10, which takes place in Frankfurt, Germany and will air live at 9:30 a.m. ET on NFL Network. That’s currently the only nationally-televised game on the schedule.
The other game closest to prime time will be an interesting one. The Colts visit the Carolina Panthers in Week 9 for a 4:05 p.m. ET kickoff. That game will be against former head coach Frank Reich.
It should be noted that the Colts could be flexed into prime time during the second half of the season when the flex scheduling begins, usually around Week 11. It would mean the Colts have to perform over expectation to be flexed into prime time.
Additionally, there are five teams that have a TBD status in Week 15 and the majority of teams are TBD for Week 18. Depending on how the season goes up until that point, there’s a non-zero chance the Colts get flexed into prime time for one or both of those games.
Regardless, the Colts will be focusing on the development of rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson, along with the other young contributors on the roster in 2023.
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