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We’re at the point of the NFL season where the league starts shuffling around schedules so that more people can enjoy marquee matchups. On Tuesday, the league announced the first flexed games of the 2017 season.
The Saints take on the Rams in Week 12. It’s a quality matchup between two of the NFC’s top teams, and the end result could have an impact on the playoff picture. It was originally scheduled for 1 p.m. ET. But the league has moved it to 4:25 ET on CBS, according to the NFL’s senior director of football communications Randall Liu.
The Titans’ game against the Colts will remain at 1 p.m. ET, but it will shift to FOX.
There’s another change for Week 13, and it also involves the Saints. The Panthers will travel to New Orleans to face the Saints for the second time this season. That game was originally set to kick off at 1 p.m. ET. It will shift to 4:25 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on FOX.
The 1 p.m. ET game between the Broncos and Dolphins will also be aired on FOX.
Sometimes the league moves more interesting games to Sunday Night Football, but that’s not happening in either of these weeks, probably because the rules only allow the league to do that twice per season. Those matchups between the Packers and Steelers in Week 12 and the Eagles and Seahawks in Week 13 will stay the same.
The league has to give 12 days notice to teams when changing the start time of a Sunday game. The NFL can only apply flexible scheduling to games on Sundays. They can’t shift other games to or from Thursday Night Football or Monday Night Football. Sorry, folks. That means we’re all stuck with one more primetime Dolphins game.