Sorry, I know that was a cheesy title but it had to be done. With the announcement today that NBC isn't going to be flexing the Week 14 Eagles-Giants game, that just about solidifies the fact that not a single game will be flexed into Sunday Night this season. Well outside of the open slot in Week 17. Here's a look at the rest of the schedule....

Week 13: Sunday, December 6th - Minnesota Vikings at Arizona Cardinals
Week 14: Sunday, December 13th - Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants
Week 15: Sunday, December 20th - Minnesota Vikings at Carolina Panthers
Week 16: Sunday, December 27th - Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins
Week 17: Sunday, January 3rd - TBA

I think NBC could potentially flex the Cowboys-Redskins game, but even when one of the teams is terrible, that matchup still brings in good ratings. We shall see though.

Why NBC wouldn't flex the Jets and the Dolphins in this spot, or even the Cowboys and Eagles, is beyond me. Buuuut, they must have reasoning behind their decision to make Denver and San Diego, the last game of the NFL Season. Al Michaels announced it on air last night, and I could almost feel America's collective groan through my television set.

It's definitely an important game, and could certainly turn out to be a barn burner, but it's definitely a questionable decision given all of the other choices. I think we know who to blame for this one too. This guy....


Yep, Brett Lorenzo Favre. If he doesn't lay an egg in Seattle, it's almost a lock that Miami-New York is next Sunday's game.

Update: Here are the rest of the Week Seventeen moves....

Dolphins at Jets (CBS, 4:15pm)
Jags at Ravens (CBS, 4:15pm)
Cowboys at Eagles (FOX, 4:15pm)

NBC has decided to use their flex option for Week Sixteen, and their choice could quite possibly be the game of the year. The NFL is moving the Chargers and Bucs from the Sunday night spot to 1pm on CBS, and the Panthers and Giants will fill that hole. From Fang's Bites via NBC....

The Week 16 Carolina Panthers-New York Giants game on Sunday, December 21 will be played at 8:15 PM ET on NBC and the San Diego Chargers-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game that day will move to 1:00 PM ET on CBS, the NFL announced today. Two other Week 16 game-time changes: the Philadelphia Eagles-Washington Redskins and Atlanta Falcons-Minnesota Vikings games on Sunday, December 21 move from 1:00 PM ET to 4:15 PM ET on FOX.

Obviously that's a great decision and with the potential of home field advantage at stake, that game could be a winner for NBC. Giants and Boys are obviously still in the Week Fifteen slot, and Week Seventeen won't be decided until next week. Here's the revised schedule for that week now.... (*- changed game time)

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18 (WEEK 16)

Indy at Jacksonville (NFL-N, 8:15pm)

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20

Baltimore at Dallas (NFL-N, 8:15pm)

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21

Cincinnati at Cleveland (CBS, 1pm)
New Orleans at Detroit (FOX, 1pm)
Miami at Kansas City (CBS, 1pm)
Arizona at New England (FOX, 1pm)
San Francisco at St. Louis (FOX, 1pm)
San Diego at Tampa Bay (CBS, 1pm)*
Pittsburgh at Tennessee (CBS, 1pm)
Buffalo at Denver (CBS, 4pm)
Houston at Oakland (CBS, 4pm)
NY Jets at Seattle (CBS, 4pm)
Atlanta at Minnesota (FOX, 4pm)*
Philadelphia at Washington (FOX, 4pm)*
Carolina at NY Giants (NBC, 8:15pm)*

MONDAY, DECEMBER 22

Green Bay at Chicago (ESPN, 8:30pm)

We knew that a flex was likely coming for Week Fourteen's Patriots-Seahawks game, but we weren't exactly sure which game was going to go in its place. The options were WAS-BAL, NO-ATL and PHI-NYG, and while I really thought it was going to be the Eagles-Giants, an Eagles loss against the Ravens made the Skins-Ravens game the most appealing. Well the Saints-Falcons would probably be the better game, but Skins-Ravens will surely pull in more in the terms of ratings.

The network has until tomorrow, but that's what I'm hearing from a handful of people this morning.

Expect NBC To Only Flex One Game This Year (Awful Announcing)

I was doing some more research into NBC's Flex Games today, and was trying to figure out which (if any) games that the network would be flexing during the final few weeks of the season. After deciding to keep the Bears at Vikings on December 30th in Week Thirteen, the answer looks to be one. Well, two technically if you count the empty slot in Week Seventeen.

The one game in question would be the Patriots-Seahawks game in Week Fourteen, but the options that NBC has to replace it with aren't necessarily that much better. FOX naturally protected the Dallas-Pittsburgh game, which leaves only WAS-BAL, ATL-NO and PHI-NYG, as viable options. A switch to the Eagles and Giants would make sense, but the network already aired the two teams' matchup in Week Ten. Not sure if there's a rule for airing the same set of teams in a season, but if there isn't, watch for NBC to make the move.

Week Fifteen is the Giants and Boys, so that's not going anywhere, and CBS has protected Pittsburgh-Tennessee the following week, so look for the Chargers and Bucs to also stay in primetime during Week Sixteen. That leaves the blank spot during Week Seventeen, and depending on the Titans' schedule at the time, you can almost bet it's going to be Tennessee at Indy. If the Titans have one or two losses, and benching starters, we'll probably be looking at one of the final AFC East matchups (NE-BUF, MIA-NYJ).

Update#1: Here is a little bit more info from our friend Neil Best at Newsday....

"There is nothing to stop the league and NBC from picking that Giants-Eagles game even though they already have shown that matchup, so that game is a very live possibility to be moved, I assume more so if the Eagles win this week."- WatchDog

Update #2: A commenter, That's My Story, has provided a list of protected games...

Week 13 - PIT @ NE (CBS), NYG @ WAS (Fox)
SNF: CHI-MIN (announced to stay put)

Week 14 - JAX @ CH (CBS), DAL @ PIT (Fox)
SNF: NE-SEA

Week 15 - None
SNF - NYG @ DAL (Given to stay put)

Week 16 - PIT @ TN (CBS), PHL @ WAS (Fox)
SNF: SD-TB (Likely to be flexed as NYG-CAR, FOX dropped the ball there because that is a real good game for NBC)

(AA Note: I still think the Chargers and Bucs are staying in that spot, but like someone pointed out in the comments, the Giants-Panthers could be for home-field advantage in the NFC.)

Week 17 - Unprotected
SNF - Open game and anyone's guess.

So the full schedule for the NFL was released today and we get our first look at some of the great weekends for the upcoming season. I broke out all of the primetime games for you here, so you know how to plan ahead of time.

ESPN Monday Night Football

Monday, Sept. 8- Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers 7 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 15 - Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 22- New York Jets at San Diego Chargers 8:30 p.m. ESPN
Monday, Sept. 29 - Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 6 - Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 13 - New York Giants at Cleveland Browns 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 20 - Denver Broncos at New England Patriots 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 27 - Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 3 - Pittsburgh Steelers at Washington Redskins 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 10- San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 17 - Cleveland Browns at Buffalo Bills 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 24 - Green Bay Packers at New Orleans Saints 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 1 - Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 8 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 15 - Cleveland Browns at Philadelphia Eagles 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 22 - Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears 8:30 p.m.

NBC Sunday Night Football

Thursday, Sept. 4- Washington Redskins at New York Giants 7 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 7 - Chicago Bears at Indianapolis Colts 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 14- Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns 8:15 p.m. NBC
Sunday, Sept. 21- Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 28 - Philadelphia Eagles at Chicago Bears 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 5 - Pittsburgh Steelers at Jacksonville Jaguars 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 12 - New England Patriots at San Diego Chargers 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 19 - Seattle Seahawks at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 26- No Game
Sunday, Nov. 2 - New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 9 - New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 16 - Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 23 - Indianapolis Colts at San Diego Chargers 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 30 - Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 7 - New England Patriots at Seattle Seahawks 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 14- New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 21 - San Diego Chargers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 28- TBD

NFL Network Thursday Night Football

Thursday, Nov. 6- Denver Broncos at Cleveland Browns 8:15 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 13- New York Jets at New England Patriots 8:15 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 20- Cincinnati Bengals at Pittsburgh Steelers 8:15 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 27- Arizona Cardinals at Philadelphia Eagles 8:15 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 4- Oakland Raiders at San Diego Chargers 8:15 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 11- New Orleans Saints at Chicago Bears 8:15 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 18- Indianapolis Colts at Jacksonville Jaguars 8:15 p.m.
______________________________

NBC once again gets a boatload of great games while ESPN is left to pick up the pieces and somehow the Browns and Bears each got 5...count them 5 primetime games! Neither team even made the Playoffs last year. NBC gets 3 Patriots games while the other two networks get a lone game. One of those games is even the Pats-Colts which was a ratings goldmine for CBS last year.

Should be a fun year. Outside of the 9ers and Cardinals there's not one MNF live-blog I wouldn't want to do and I may even be starting up a full time Sunday Night one as well.

AFC Team By Team Schedule (NFL.com)
NFC Team By Team Schedule (NFL.com)

It was announced last week that the Redskins and Giants would be kicking off the NFL season on Thursday, September 4th, but the NFL announced today that the first Sunday Night game of the season will be the Chicago Bears at the Indianapolis Colts.

Why the felt the need to give us a rematch of the 2006 Super Bowl is beyond me, but Indy will be opening up Lucas Oil Stadium that night. I'll be adding the rest of Week One's game in this spot when released.

Damn Republicans......always messing stuff up (I kid, I kid). Apparently John McCain was to be accepting the Republican Party's nomination the same day and time that NBC was kicking off next year's NFL Season. Well according to Reuters that's no longer the case.....

The National Football League and NBC will likely move up the time of the league's September season opener so it won't conflict with presidential nominee John McCain's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

Since 2002, the NFL has held its season opener on the first Thursday night after Labor Day. This year, the game runs smack into the final night of the convention, when McCain will officially accept the nomination and give a nationally televised speech from Minneapolis.

So, the NFL and NBC have agreed in principle to have the kickoff at 7 p.m. ET instead of the traditional 8:30 p.m. That would mean, except in the event of an overtime, that the game would end before NBC's expected one hour of convention coverage for the night.

The move comes with several risks, including a loss of audience since the game would start so early on the West Coast. Also, it could impact any pregame special or entertainment that the NFL or NBC could schedule. It would, though, give NBC News a strong lead-in to its convention coverage.

I've maintained for years that they should start games at 7pm regardless of what's going on out West, and hopefully something will get in the way of the NBA Playoffs this summmer because games ending at 2 AM are just ridiculous. Anyone know if the Democratic Convention is in Oakland this year?

NFL season opener yields to McCain speech (Reuters)

22 to zero Skins at the half and Peter King is calling as many coaches as he can to see who's playing next week. Tony Dungy has said Manning is only playing a half.

When did Keith stop doing his "Worst Person in Football"? I haven't seen one in weeks.

Allison takes the kickoff and has a huge return, but it's a penalty on Vikings. Sellers is hurt and that looked very Kevin Everett-like. That didn't look good. He was moving his legs around so he might have only been knocked out. And wow....he jogs off the field. That guy is a stud.

1st down Vikings from their 26. Peterson picks up 3 on first down but he follows with a great run on 2nd. He picks up 18 yards and is nailed by Shawn Springs. They run it with him again and he only gets a yard. Williamson picks up a fancy screen and it'll be 3rd and 3 at the Skins 45......Pitch to Taylor and that's short. 4th and 1 and the Vikes are going for it....

No way! Great stop as Peterson gets stuffed going up the middle. Redskins ball. Collins play actions and hits Sellers' replacement Kozlowski for 5 yards. Portis losses a yard on second and it's 3rd and 6.....Caught over the middle by ARE. A nice run after the catch gets it down to the Vikings 32.

Play action again on first down and there's another 10+ yarder to Moss. First down. Betts up the middle for about seven to the 14. Betts again up the middle and it'll be first and goal from the 4 for the Skins.

Portis goes up the middle to about the 1 yard line....2nd and Goal. Play action is incomplete as Cooley can't get out of the weeds. 3rd and Goal.....False start on Alexander and that'll drop it back to the 6.....

They try the Portis throw again and that's not working. Dumb call there. 26 yard FG......

GOOD! 25-0 Skins.

"That photo of Chris Cooley is disturbing on so many levels." (Via Anon)

My work is done.

Let's see if they can keep Allison from returning it 40 yards this time. Hey! They did it. Vikings ball at the 23. Jackson has it batted down incomplete on first down but they swing it to Peterson on second and he gets 14. Good play there.

Jackson overthrows Williamson badly on first down and he's going to throw another pick before this thing is done. Troy Will gets the attempt again, and again he has the first and momentum makes him lose it. 3rd and inches.....

"As we start to getting into double digit links that's when I would look to my Running Back."- John Madden
"Or scrambled eggs."- Al Michaels

The Vikes pick up a first on a pitch to Chester Taylor and then try to go deep but it's incomplete. Tony Richardson picks up the first on a screen thought. Godfrey is down for the Skins and that's their last linebacker walking. That's not good.

Jackson hits Bobby Wade for a nice gain and that's immediately followed by a nice throw and catch to Ferguson. First and goal Vikes from the 2......

TOUCHDOWN VIKINGS!!! Jackson to Kleinsasser. They're trying to make it interesting......

25-7 Skins.

Did anyone else here that scary voice over top of that shot of Adrian Peterson on the sidelines, or is the Devil telling me to burn things again? (Via Mark)

I thought that was just my TV....very scary. OH CRAP! Onside kick and the Vikings recover!!! Now they're really making it interesting. Williamson picks up six or so on first down and Peterson drops it on second down. 3rd and 4....Jackson sacked! Why didn't he just throw that away? He makes some horrible decisions. Vikings punt.....touchback.

"Where they head the 8 men, 9 men, and they got what they wanted....the backoff, and they threw to the backoff."- John Madden

Caldwell gets the Collins pass on first down and picks up seven, which is followed by a Portis two yard run. 3rd and 1....Portis losses about 3 yards trying the middle. Skins punt but not until the 4th quarter starts. Put your 4s up.

Moore returns the punt to about the 40, but an unsportsmanlike penalty on James Thrash adds 15.....Vikings ball in Skins territory. On first down the screen goes to Taylor and he picks up a first. Ball at the 35.

Peterson pitches to Allison on the end around but that only nets a yard. Shiancoe gets the pass and picks up about 8. 3rd and short.....Jackson runs and gets the first, but there's a flag on the play.....it's on the Skins. First down.

Jackson to Wade picks up 9 to the 11 yard line....2nd and 1. First down as Wade gets it again.....first and goal Vikings at the 5. Incomplete on the fade to Ferguson on first and Chester Taylor losses a yard on 2nd down. 3rd and goal....

TOUCHDOWN VIKINGS! Tavaris Jackson up the middle and this is suddenly turning into a game.....

25-14....10 minutes left.

Cartwright takes it out to the 25...first down. Collins rolls out to the right and then pulls it down and smartly stays in bounds for 5 yards. A false start on 2nd down and that'll make it 2nd and 11. Huuuuge catch on the sidelines by Moss and that was close. They try the quick snap to stop the challenge and they FUMBLE!!!

Minnesota ball and now Gibbs throws a challenge flag out there. Gibbs is testing that there were 12 men on the field. It's overturned! 12 men on the field. Amazing.....and Childress is flipping out.

1st and 5 from their own 48. Portis picks up 4 yards on first and follows that with a nice 11 yarder for another first down. Betts picks up one yard to the Vikings 30.....7 minutes left. Caldwell gets 4 yards on the throw for Collins and it'll be about 3rd and 5. Vikings call timeout.

Portis right up the gut and that's a first down! 9 yards down to the twenty. Collins hits James Thrash on a slant for six yards...........

TOUCHDOWN REDSKINS!!!!! Clinton Portis on the pitch! He just broke Smith's ankles on that one.

32-14 Skins.

5 minutes left and the kickoff goes short to Grigsby. Peterson was back to receive that one, so that was a hell of a move. Jackson throws it away on first down but Taylor picks up a first on the screen on 2nd. Jackson runs it for another first near midefield and then Taylor gets another screen for nine.

Peterson gets the first down to the 37 yard line of the Skins. Jackson to Williamson but that'll come back as Troy went out of bounds before catching it. Tavaris to Shiancoe for a few and it's 2nd and 9. Jackson again on the sneak and another first down and the Vikings spike the ball. 2:32 left.

Ferguson gets a first down and another spike for Jackson. Shawn Springs makes a nice hit on Ferguson and breaks up a pass and that's followed by a fade to Allison...a flag is thrown on Smoot but that ball was in the stands. It's ruled uncatchable. 4th and 10 and Landry destroys Jackson he just chucks it up in the air.

There's a horrible call on Torrence though and an interference penalty puts it at the one........

TOUCHDOWN VIKINGS! Jackson on the sneak and that drops the lead to 11 at the two minute warning.....

32-21 now.

The onside kick goes out of bounds and the Skins take the ball. A run by Portis losses a bunch of yards and the Vikings call timeout with 1:50 to go. Another run by Portis goes nowhere and the Vikings call their last timeout. Betts up the middle to the 30 and the clock runs. The Skins call timeout with 1:04 left. Frost punts down to the 5 and the Vikings will have a minute and a full field to travel.

Taylor on the screen for 8 yards, Jackson picks up the first on the run and the Vikings don't even bother to spike it. That's the game folks.

32-21 Redskins win. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing Todd Collins looks in this offense and it's the Cowboys at home for a trip to Seattle and the Playoffs. Great game if you're a Skins fan. Videos and other goodness coming tomorrow.

I'll see you for some Bowl Game live-blogs and I'll be doing the Pats-Giants game next Saturday. Cheers!

NBC dropped Tampa-San Fran for it's Week 16 contest in favor of the Washington-Minnesota contest (originally scheduled for 1pm on FOX) today. With the game having playoff implications this is obviously no brainer. The Vikings at 7-6 are sitting in the final wild card spot, and the Redskins at 6-7 are the first team on the outside looking in.

Minnesota has Chicago at home on Monday Night Football next week while the Skins travel to New York for the previously scheduled NBC Sunday Night game. What's even more interesting would have been the possibility of the Redskins being picked for a third week in a row. But unfortunately the Cowboys will have been in Primetime six times on the year thus eliminating them from possibility. That leaves the only intriguing games left as Minnesota at Denver or Detroit at Green Bay for Week 17, and there's no way they're staying with KC at NYJ.

The question is whether NBC would want a game with Playoff implications or one of these other options....

Current Game: KC at NYJ
CBS Games: PIT at BAL, JAX at HOU, BUF at PHI, CIN at MIA, SD at OAK (TEN-INDY Protected)
FOX Games: CAR at TB, SF at CLE, SEA at ATL, STL at AZ, MIN at DEN (GB-CHI Protected)

Yep it looks like we'll get a Madden-Favre Love Fest when the QB might not even play in the game during Week 17.


'Skins - Vikings move to Sunday night in Week 16 (NBC Sports)

Everyone take notice...I'm not bashing ESPN in a post! I am praising them for a creation I haven't seen before, and it's pretty darn awesome. I give you "The 2007 Sport Event Calendar". Since ESPN carries every damn game on the face of the earth this could be the most useful thing they've ever done. Obviously the above picture is just a snippet so click the link below to see the whole shebang.

And yes, I'm aware that this is from 2007 and basically useless, but they'll come out with a 2008 edition and I'll pass that along as well. There is also one glaring omission from the calendar and if you "sect" of fans can point it out....you get the gold star for the day!

The 2007 Sport Event Calendar (ESPN)

(P.S.- A tip for rookie bloggers...when you don't have anything to write about just head to ESPN.com and click around for 10 minutes. I hadn't been there in months, and I have about 14 posts to fill up this space. Huzzah!)

UPDATE: Apparently I'm blind as hell and didn't even see the 2008 Calendar right on the main page. Oh well....no harm no foul. Thanks to Mike for pointing out the miscue. Oh and there's still no NHL on it.....

2008 Sport And Event Calendar (ESPN)

NBC took its first flex option for Week 11 by adding the Pats and Bills, and some people think it might be a little premature (myself included). I planned on taking a look at other possible games that they could have choosen, but without knowing the protected games of FOX and CBS that would have been pointless. Well know I know and here's what I've come up with.....

Protected Games:

CBS-

Week 12- Broncos-Bears
Week 13- Jaguars-Colts
Week 14- Steelers-Patriots
Week 15- Jaguars-Steelers
Week 16- Texans-Colts

FOX-

Week 11- Giants-Lions
Week 13- Giants-Bears
Week 14- Giants-Eagles
Week 15- Lions-Chargers
Week 16- Packers-Bears

Hmmm, which network do you think did a better job of protecting games? I agree....3 Giants games?!?! That's just dumb. But that's not the dumbest part....by choosing the Pats-Bills game NBC has lost the right to any other Pats game for the season unless they rid themselves of the Pats-Eagles game the following week. Via Sports Business Daily.....

Only three teams can appear as many as six times in primetime -- on NBC, ESPN or NFL Network -- and no team can appear more than four times on NBC. NBC was originally scheduled to air Bears-Seahawks in Week 11, but that game will now be carried on Fox. The Patriots will play their sixth primetime game of the season in Week 17 on NFL Network, meaning if the NFL wanted to put another Patriots game on NBC, Eagles-Patriots would have to be moved off of NBC's schedule.

By picking the Bills-Pats game the only good options that NBC is left with for the rest of the season are the following....

Week 13: Lions-Vikings
Week 16: Redskins-Vikings, Giants-Bills
Week 17: Lions-Packers, Titans-Colts

If they drop the Pats Eagles in Week 12 they could swap it for the Vikings at Giants or Redskins at Bucs, and they'd be left with the following Patriots games to choose from....

Week 14: New York Jets at New England
Week 15: Miami Dolphins at New England

Hmmm.....maybe they made the right choice and it's not so dumb after all.

You've gotta love the leeway that NBC gets for its Sunday Night games, and it seriously has to piss ESPN off that they can't do something similar. For those of you not aware, starting after Week 10 NBC has the option of swapping their Sunday Night game with any Sunday afternoon contest. Fox and CBS each can protect five games each year, but only one a week, and NBC has to let everyone know they Tuesday 12 days before.

Week 11 the network will be trading Chicago at Seattle for New England at Buffalo. So while ESPN will be stuck with Tennessee at Denver that week.....NBC will be hyping up Tom Brady for a good 4-5 hours and loving every minute of it, and guess what? They have him again in Week 12 when the Eagles head to Foxboro.

Can we just call NBC, TBC?