I told myself I wouldn't look ahead with predictions but this one is a bit different.
A few notable games in week 16:
1:00 pm Patriots at Ravens
8:20 pm Bengals at Dolphins
Maybe a flex?
Both CBS and Fox can 'protect' one game each week from being flexed.
The Patriots at Ravens could fall into that category.
Week 16 is a CBS doubleheader
Right now their primary late game is Pittsburgh at Detroit.
The Steelers have lost three of their last four.
Their next two opponents are home vs Cincy, then at Chiacgo.
If Pitt loses either of those, CBS may want to swap out Pitt-Det for NE-Balt in the 4:30 time slot.
After that Pittsburgh plays Buffalo and Baltimore, and could be 6-7 at that point, making Pats-Ravens a more enticing game.
I can see CBS protecting the New England-Baltimore game in this scenario.
One other thing to keep in mind is that for Sunday night games between Weeks 5-13, the NFL must provide 12 days notice before flexing. However, from Weeks 14-17, that time period shrinks to six days advance for flexing.
In other words they can wait until Monday Dec 15, after all the Week 15 games have been played (other than MNF Pitt-Miami) to decide.
The whole idea of flexing was the NFL's decision to make Sunday Night Football a showcase, the best game/matchup of the week.
Now look at Week 15. It's a Bills-Patriots rematch in the early time slot for CBS.
It's also another CBS double header, with Green Bay at Denver
The SNF game is Minn at Dallas, which is anything but a showcase game.
Would NBC want to keep it, just because Dallas gets good ratings no matter how bad their record is?
My guess is that between Packers-Broncos and Patriots-Bills, whichever one CBS does not protect, the league will push for the other game to be flexed into SNF over Vikings-Cowboys.
And if NBC is still adamant about having Dallas on SNF at some point, perhaps they could flex Chargers at Cowboys in week 16 over Bengals at Dolphins.
