1. If you’re a regular Traina Thoughts reader or SI Media Podcast listener, you know that I’m an NFL schedule nerd. I love the minutia and the possibilities of trying to get the best schedule each week.
With the regular season in its final month, I evaluated the schedule for the final weeks and came away with some questions. So, I reached out to NFL's vice president of broadcast planning, Mike North, to get some clarity. Here’s the information I found out sprinkled in with my own thoughts.
WEEK 15
In Week 15, CBS will air what many believe is a Super Bowl preview when the Buffalo Bills visit the Detroit Lions. CBS is even sending its NFL Today crew to the Motor City for the pregame show to hype up the big contest.
The game is slated for the 4:25 p.m. ET window. When I looked over the schedule, I noticed all the late window games that day are a 4:25 kickoff. There aren’t any 4:05 games. What’s up with that?
North explained that Week 15 is a doubleheader week for both CBS and Fox. The NFL used the double doubleheader in Week 1 last season and in 2022. This season, the league moved it to Week 15. That means the Bills-Lions game will go head-to-head with the Steelers-Eagles game at 4:25 p.m. on Fox. Ouch!
Having those games go against each other instead of having one of them air in a separate window is a huge loss for the NFL fans. Those are two games fans should be able to lock in on during standalone windows.
The 1 p.m. slate that day is mostly filled with garbage: Dallas at Carolina, Kansas City at Cleveland, Cincinnati at Tennessee, Washington at New Orleans, New York Jets at Jacksonville, Baltimore at New York Giants. The only decent game is Miami at Houston—and that’s pushing it with the Dolphins sitting at 5–7.
It would’ve been nice to have that Pittsburgh-Philadelphia game in the early window.
Meanwhile, ESPN will air a Monday Night Football doubleheader in Week 15. The Bears visit the Vikings at 8 p.m. ET and the Falcons visit the Raiders at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Steelers-Eagles even could’ve worked as a flex in that 8:30 window since Atlanta–Las Vegas is an unwatchable game, but the league isn’t keen on flexing out of a Monday Night Football window during a doubleheader.
WEEK 16
Once again, the nation will be subjected to another prime-time Cowboys game with Dallas hosting Tampa Bay on Sunday Night Football.
There is a great Eagles-Commanders game in the 1 p.m. window that day. Seems like a perfect flex. In the words of Lee Corso, though, not so fast.
The Philadelphia-Washington game can’t be flexed because the previous meeting between the two teams aired on Amazon Prime and the NFL has a rule in place that CBS and Fox must get at least one of the two games between teams in the same division.
The Vikings visit the Seahawks at 4:05 in the only other Sunday game that features two winning teams. It should be flexed into Sunday Night Football. It won’t. The NFL and NBC won’t flex out the Cowboys, despite the fact that Dallas is 5–7.
Everyone I’ve spoken to at networks and at the NFL have made it clear that the Cowboys will never be flexed out of a window because no matter how bad they are, they draw ratings. Just look at the 38 million people who watched Dallas play the Giants on Thanksgiving.
WEEK 17
NBC’s Sunday Night Football game is Miami at Cleveland. This would appear to be a definite flex. The NFL and NBC have a couple of choices for this week, as well.
Cardinals at Rams is likely the leader in the clubhouse to be flexed into SNF. Packers at Vikings, also slated for 1 p.m. that day, can’t be flexed because their first meeting aired on CBS and Fox must get a game, as I explained above regarding the Eagles-Commanders.
MISC.
One thought I had while looking at the remaining schedule was just how screwed poor CBS is getting late in the season. Four games involving four of the best AFC teams are taking place on networks other than CBS.
On Christmas Day, Netflix has Chiefs at Steelers and Ravens at Texans. Because these four teams are playing on a Wednesday in Week 17, they needed to play on Saturday in Week 16. And they needed to play each other. So, on Saturday, Dec. 21, the Texans visit the Chiefs at 1 p.m. and the Steelers visit the Ravens at 4:30 p.m. These games aren’t airing on CBS, either.
Houston–Kansas City is an NBC game and Pittsburgh-Baltimore is a Fox game. Why? Because the Saturday games go up for bid in the offseason and NBC and Fox outbid CBS. Actually, I don’t even know if CBS bid at all. I just know NBC and Fox had the highest bids.
Because these four games, which would normally be CBS games, are airing elsewhere, here’s the pick of the litter for Jim Nantz and Tony Romo.
In Week 16, CBS has Patriots at Bills (bad), Titans at Colts (very bad), Rams at Jets (bad), Jaguars at Raiders (beyond bad, disgusting and vile) and Niners at Dolphins, which is likely the game Nantz and Romo will call. Poor Ian Eagle and Charles Davis will probably get stuck with Rams-Jets.
In Week 17, CBS has Jets at Bills (bad), Titans at Jaguars (pathetic), Panthers at Bucs (bad). The following Week 17 games are TBD regarding time and network: Broncos at Bengals, Cardinals at Rams, Chargers at Patriots, Colts at Giants and Falcons at Commanders.
Hopefully the NFL gives CBS and Nantz and Romo the Cardinals-Rams game because everything else is subpar, to say the least.
One last thing to keep in mind regarding the Saturday games in Week 16: They will be going head-to-head with the College Football Playoff, with TNT airing a game at noon and another at 4 p.m. So make sure you have fresh batteries in your remotes.
2. A brand new SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast dropped Thursday morning. This week’s show features a conversation with The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis.
Topics covered with Curtis include why something feels off about the Inside the NBA–ESPN deal; Stephen A. Smith reportedly getting a new six-year, $120 million contract from ESPN; how Tom Brady has progressed, whether the coverage of him has been fair and what we want to see more of from Brady. Curtis also reveals which two networks he thinks do the best job with their NFL game coverage.
Following Curtis, Sal Licata, from WFAN radio and SNY TV, joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss a Bills-Lions Super Bowl vs. a Chiefs-Lions Super Bowl, an NFL Sunday disaster for a family member, the new season of HBO’s Hard Knocks and much more.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.
3. My colleague, Chris Mannix, spoke to Adrian Wojnarowski for a huge Digital Cover story about Woj’s exit from ESPN and sports media. It’s a must-read piece.
The biggest media story in 2024 was Adrian Wojnarowski leaving his lucrative job at ESPN to return to St. Bonaventure as the men’s basketball general manager. @SIChrisMannix spoke with @wojespn on why he walked away and his next chapter: https://t.co/36Ly7YAhUZ pic.twitter.com/5aWD1i6kPQ
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 5, 2024
4. I just have one question for the people saying the Golden At-Bat rule is something MLB would implement to attract younger viewers.
Am I supposed to believe that some 16-year-old kid who doesn’t care about baseball is now going to become a fan of the sport because Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani or Bryce Harper gets five at-bats in a game instead of four?
Am I supposed to believe that a 16-year-old kid who doesn’t care about baseball is going to now start watching three-hour baseball games to watch a team use the Golden At-Bat in the ninth inning?
5. Pat McAfee will return to call Monday Night Raw when it airs on Netflix in January. This is good news for the WWE and its viewers because McAfee adds a lot to the telecasts. Plus, it’ll be interesting to see how far he pushes the envelope with the show airing on Netfix as opposed to cable.
An absolute honor to be asked back.. A. Childhood dream realized every single time I’m lucky enough to be in an arena with the @WWE Universe.
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 5, 2024
Can’t wait to be talking into a microphone next to @MichaelCole again.. He’s the 🐐.
I’m excited to tell the worldwide audience on… https://t.co/OIC1JMzJ3G
6. I love how confused, uncomfortable and terrified Mike Greenberg and Dan Orlovsky looked here when Jason McCourty and Harry Douglas started dancing during Get Up.
"Go Hembo, go Hembo, go Hembo -- No!" pic.twitter.com/oBeiUliDz1
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 5, 2024
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: The NFL celebrated John Madden on Thanksgiving. There are many reasons to love Madden. Among them was that he recognized the greatness of WWE legend, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Most Notable NFL Schedule Nuggets for the Remainder of the Season.
