The first ever NBC Sunday Night Football flex schedule game is......

[aarontabr]

The Undefeated Chicago Bears at the New York Giants at the Meadowlands. This game was originally scheduled for 1 PM Eastern November 7th, will now be at 8PM eastern thanks to the new flex schedule that will try to put good matchups on at the end of the season.

 

[bpatrick]

Do you mean November 5? November 7 is a Tuesday,
Election Day to be exact.

 

[KeithE4]

Actually, the Bears-Giants game is on November 12 (Week 10). The Bears play the Dolphins on November 5 (Early game).

 

[x13thfloorrand]

Only in Football....

Does this highly brilliant concept of scheduling work. Probably College Football would work also.

For years, MNF had the pleasure of giving us stinkers in December , ie: Arizona at Oakland. ESPN has returned the playoff type atmosphere to MNF, Sunday Night Football, not too shabby either. But the good games were either locally blocked... because here in Buffalo, the 3-5 Bills are on and I have to miss Denver-Indy... or not televised. The flex schedule allows better matchups to move to higher viewing timeslots.

Can't wait...

 

[bpatrick]

According to today's USA Today, Sunday Night Football
was the number-two ranked show of the week, with
21.9 million viewers. "Desperate Housewives," with
22.6 million viewers, nosed it out for first place.

 

[Morgan Wick]

I've been doing some speculating about this actually, and this is how I see it all breaking down:

* Week 10: Chicago at NY Giants. Confirmed.

* Week 11: San Diego at Denver. Confirmed.

* Week 12: Probably protected by FOX: Philadelphia at Indianapolis; if not that, Chicago at New England; on the off chance it's not either of those two, New Orleans at Atlanta. Bears-Patriots is the best matchup, but Saints-Falcons is creeping up, and could win if Bears-Patriots is protected (I suspect that's unlikely), or if both teams lose Sunday. My pick: Chicago at New England, right this second. That could change by the time this coming week is over, which I believe is the last time NBC has to make a pick.

* Week 13: Probably protected by FOX: Seattle at Denver. Cowboys-Giants has been the favorite; Vikings-Bears is their chief rival. Both Dallas and Minnesota have four losses, but the Giants have two losses and the Bears have one. Dallas and the Giants have the better stars (T.O. vs. Eli Manning), as well as being a divisional rivalry, and could still come out on top if the Bears inexplicably collapse by the end of Week 11 (has that started?). My pick: Minnesota at Chicago has a narrow edge on best records. But if the Bears lose again, even once, Cowboys-Giants could be a lock.

* Week 14: Probably protected by FOX: New Orleans at Dallas (unless Leinartmania points to Seattle at Arizona). Probably protected by CBS: Denver at San Diego. Looks hard to stop My pick: Indianapolis at Jacksonville.

* Week 15: Probably protected by CBS: Denver at Arizona. (Remember that CBS and Fox had to submit their picks after only Week 4.) All my old picks are flunking. Jags-Titans is on life support. Eagles-Giants suffers from Philadelphia’s four losses. The Redskins need to continue on a tear to put the Saints on NBC. Meanwhile, the Chiefs could be playing their way to Sunday night. My pick: Kansas City at San Diego. (However, I can't commit until at least after Week 11, because as it stands this matchup is fairly weak.)

* Week 17: Probably protected by FOX: Atlanta at Philadelphia. Probably protected by CBS: Pittsburgh at Cincinatti. Oh please. Give me time to see how the season shakes out. If you choked me, I would probably go for Rams-Vikings or Jags-Chiefs.