NFL Week 4 Television Coverage and Odds

The NFL Week 4 schedule brings us two firsts of the season. Sunday morning CBS will broadcast the first of three games being played in England this season, and it also marks the first byes. The Jaguars will play in London for the fourth consecutive year, and last year they extended their agreement to play overseas through 2020. This will be the Jags’ first division game at Wembley Stadium. For the Indianapolis Colts this will be their first trip to the UK.

The two byes this week go to Green Bay and Philadelphia. This year the byes will be spread out from weeks four through thirteen – though there are no byes in week twelve, due to that being the week of three Thanksgiving Day games.

Fox owns the doubleheader this week, and their primary late game will be Dallas at San Francisco. Two teams that combined for a 9-23 record in 2015 and are both unlikely to make the playoffs this year would not be my choice for a showcase game. The executives at Fox have their own strategy on selecting which games to promote, with the first rule being to televise NFC East teams – especially the Cowboys and Giants – into as many markets as often as possible, and make them familiar to as many fans as they can.

Their second edict seems to be to avoid showcasing an AFC team. It seems as though Fox wants to avoid telecasting the product of a competitor (CBS). New Orleans at San Diego is a more compelling matchup, but Fox also prefers to highlight teams from larger metropolitan areas. The Dallas (4th) and San Francisco (11th) markets dwarf San Diego (17th) and New Orleans (46th).

CBS was late in announcing what games would be broadcast where this week. My guess is that was due to wanting to wait to see Sunday’s results, and obtaining more information on New England’s quarterback situation. The potential of an 0-3 Buffalo team playing New England with a 4th-string quarterback would have eliminated that game from consideration for neutral markets. Baltimore improving to 3-0 makes their game against Oakland a suitable alternative.

As for the prime time games, Miami at Cincinnati kicks off action on Thursday night. This week’s TNF game will not be on CBS; it is only available on the NFL Network. Kansas City at Pittsburgh is an exceptional AFC matchup on Sunday night, and then Minnesota hosts the Giants on Monday night.

There are only a handful of venues that have posted a line on the Patriots-Bills game. CG Technology is the only Vegas parlor to publish odds on this game, listing the Pats as 4½ point favorites. Three offshore sites are split at either four or four and a half points.

Please keep in mind that local affiliates can request a change of the game that the network has initially assigned to their market, and that those requests are almost always granted. There will almost undoubtedly be a handful of changes in some local markets between now and Sunday.

Week 4 NFL Television Coverage and Odds

???? Miami Dolphins at Cincinnati Bengals
Thursday, September 29 at 8:30 pm ET on NFLN
Bengals -7, over/under 44½
Broadcast in all markets.

?? Indianapolis Colts vs Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium, London
Sunday, October 2 at 9:30 am ET on CBS
Colts -2½, over/under 49½
Broadcast in all markets.

?? Cleveland Browns at Washington Redskins
Sunday, October 2 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS
Skins -9½, over/under 45½
Broadcast in DC and Ohio; other markets TBA.

????? Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots
Sunday, October 2 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS
Patriots -4½, over/under TBD
Broadcast in New England and New York (except NYC); other markets TBA.

????? Seattle Seahawks at New York Jets
Sunday, October 2 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Kevin Burkhardt, John Lynch
Seahawks -1½, over/under 40½
Broadcast in New England (except Boston), Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, south Florida (Miami and West Palm), Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, eastern Kentucky, western Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Nashville TN, Texas (except Houston), Utah, eastern Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

???? Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons
Sunday, October 2 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Dick Stockton, Chris Spielman
Panthers -3½, over/under 46
Broadcast in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida (except Miami and West Palm Beach), Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee (except Nashville), western Virginia

??? Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears
Sunday, October 2 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston
Lions -3, over/under 46½
Broadcast in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, western Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, eastern Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

??? Tennessee Titans at Houston Texans
Sunday, October 2 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS
Texans -6½, over/under 40½
Broadcast in Tennessee and Texas; other markets TBA.

???? Oakland Raiders at Baltimore Ravens
Sunday, October 2 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS
Ravens -3½, over/under 46½
Broadcast in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Maryland, western Pennsylvania, Oregon and Washington; other markets TBA.

??? Denver Broncos at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Sunday, October 2 at 4:05 pm ET on CBS
Broncos -3, over/under 44½
Broadcast in central Florida and most of the western United States except for the Pacific coast; other markets TBA.

? Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers
Sunday, October 2 at 4:25 pm ET on FOX; Joe Buck, Troy Aikman
Cowboys -3, over/under 46
Broadcast in all markets with the exception of Alabama, Arizona, southern California, Tampa FL, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and St. Louis.

???? New Orleans Saints at San Diego Chargers
Sunday, October 2 at 4:25 pm ET on FOX; Chris Myers, Ronde Barber
Chargers -4, over/under 52
Broadcast in Alabama, San Diego CA, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

??? Los Angeles Rams at Arizona Cardinals
Sunday, October 2 at 4:25 pm ET on FOX; Thom Brennaman, Charles Davis
Cardinals -8½, over/under 43
Broadcast in Arizona, southern California (except San Diego) and St. Louis.

????? Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers
Sunday, October 2 at 8:30 pm ET on NBC; Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth
Steelers -6, over/under 47½
Broadcast in all markets.

??? New York Giants at Minnesota Vikings
Monday, October 3 at 8:30 pm ET on BSPN; Sean McDonough, Jon Gruden
Vikings -4, over/under 43½
Broadcast in all markets.

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