Last week, the NFL decided to flex the matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs to the Sunday Night Football slot. Replacing the Los Angeles Rams vs. the lowly San Francisco 49ers, this matchup should easily be the strongest game of the 3 primetime games this week. This week’s prime time games could be the weakest lineup of the season and help make the case that the NFL should have more authority to flex games.
On Thursday night, the 2-4 Denver Broncos play against the 1-5 Arizona Cardinals who found a way to beat the Garoppolo-less 49ers. There are concerns for both teams that their staff could be losing their jobs if they lose the game. Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks believes that he and his entire staff are on the hot seat. Broncos GM John Elway believes the same for him and head coach Vance Joseph. Rather than watching teams that are near the top of the standings, we are a watching a battle between teams that could fire their staff for poor performance.
As I said earlier, originally scheduled for Sunday Night Football was the Rams vs. 49ers, but due to the 49ers lack of winning and loss of their main star Jimmy Garoppolo, the game was flexed out. Replacing it is the Chiefs vs. Bengals. I feel that Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense will run over the Bengals defense as they’re coming off a devastating loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers at home. That type of loss is one that’s likely to derail a season.
Finally, on Monday Night Football, we have the 1-5 New York Giants vs. the 2-4 Atlanta Falcons. The Giants have struggled both offensively and defensively all season, and they will likely draft a QB next season to end the Eli Manning era. The Falcons have suffered an insane amount of injuries on defense. The Falcons ranks 2nd-to-last in points allowed per game and 3rd-to-last in yards allowed per game. This game will lack the quality the schedule makers were expecting when they generated the NFL schedule back in April.
If the NFL had more flexing capabilities, they could move the 4-2 Baltimore Ravens vs. 4-1 New Orleans Saints into prime time and take out either the Broncos vs. Cardinals or Falcons vs. Giants. Unfortunately, flexing Sunday afternoon games to Thursday Night or Monday Night is likely something the NFL would not want to do as it could lead to less teams feeling like they truly matter and the majority of games having no impact (I personally think the NBA has a problem with this). Do you feel that your favorite team(s) in sports should be scheduled for prime time games more often? Reply your thoughts below!
Sports Addict 
I loved how you analyzed an under the radar, yet still relevant, sports topic rather than talking about the same stories as everyone else. It is interesting how the matchups end up playing out, and of course, it is always great to get to have your team play during prime time, but there are some problems in rearranging the schedule every week. But regardless of the complications, I think this will need to be something that the NFL begins to look at especially as their ratings are dropping.
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As a Packers fan, I have a love-hate relationship with prime time games. I love them because I actually get to watch my team play on TV, but I hate them because the team always seems to struggle during the games. It’s really strange.
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