The NFL made a big mistake moving Titans vs. Jaguars to Saturday night
When the NFL introduced flexible scheduling in 2006, the idea behind it was to allow surprise contending teams an opportunity to "play their way onto primetime." Between Weeks 11-17, and occasionally between Weeks 5-10, the league reserved the right to reschedule the Sunday Night Football game to ensure quality matchups throughout the season. A few […]
When the NFL introduced flexible scheduling in 2006, the idea behind it was to allow surprise contending teams an opportunity to "play their way onto primetime."
Between Weeks 11-17, and occasionally between Weeks 5-10, the league reserved the right to reschedule the Sunday Night Football game to ensure quality matchups throughout the season.
A few years ago, when the NFL began playing a 17 game, 18 week season, they also introduced a plan where the final week of the season would be complete with "TBA" start times. Any game could be moved to a Sunday night or Saturday time slot. The reasoning behind it was simple. Put the games that determine playoff races in primetime to attract viewership and keep the races interesting for as long as possible. They wanted as many teams "in the hunt" until the final moments of the season.
That could not have played out better in 2021, when the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers squared off on Sunday Night Football in Week 18 playing for the final wild card spot in the AFC. Things got even more entertaining when the game went to overtime, considering that both teams would make the playoffs if the game ended in a tie, knocking the Steelers out of the playoff picture.
The NFL had a similar chance to maximize the drama this weekend, but ultimately dropped the ball by moving the battle for the AFC South between the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars to Saturday night. The Sunday Night Football slot was given to the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions instead.
Both Detroit and Green Bay are still fighting for a playoff spot in the NFC, but there's one big problem with making this the final game played this weekend.
If the Seattle Seahawks win on Sunday afternoon over the 5-11 Los Angeles Rams, the Lions will be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. That removes the "win and in" aspect of the Detroit-Green Bay matchup, which makes it lose it's luster a little bit. Detroit would still be playing to knock a rival out of the playoffs, but the goal of flex scheduling is to put teams against each other that both have major skin in the game.
The answer for this was simple. Detroit and Green Bay play a high stakes game on Saturday Night, with Seattle's result hanging in the balance, and the Packers trying to clinch a playoff spot. Then, Tennessee and Jacksonville play for their division title on Sunday night. Both nights would then have what feel like winner take all games.
That would have been the best viewing experience for the fans, not to mention a more fair timeline for the teams. Forcing Jacksonville into a short week after playing on Sunday puts them at a serious disadvantage against a Titans team that has had adequate rest coming off of a Thursday night game where they benched their starters. Yet another reason why this game should have been played on Sunday night.
But no, the league chose Aaron Rodgers instead, not that anyone should be surprised.
Just a ridiculous decision by the NFL, dropping the ball on what should have been a very straight forward process. They could have set up a great slate of games and maximized the tension of the weekend. Now it may come back to bite them if the Seahawks win.
Image via Andrew Nelles / Tennessean.com-USA TODAY NETWORK
