The New England Patriots were scheduled to face the New York Jets on Sunday Night Football for week 12. The Patriots are responsible for the two best Sunday Night games of the season, both from a competition standpoint and from a ratings standpoint, in their tilts against the Cardinals and the Seahawks.
The Jets, on the other hand, just lost to the Los Angeles Rams with a final score of 9-6. They do not have a good defense. They do not have a quarterback. They are not a good team.
FLEX: Week 12 @NFL flexible schedule changes for Sunday, Nov 27:
— Randall Liu (@RLiuNFL) November 14, 2016
KC at DEN moves to 8:30 PM ET (NBC)
NE at NYJ moves to 4:25 PM ET (CBS)
The Broncos and Chiefs are both competing for the AFC West crown and a bye week in the playoffs and both are almost locked into the playoff picture due to the weak AFC field. This is a game with serious implications in the AFC. The two teams also have another prime time game in week 16.
The Patriots might be able to draw some interest on a national level. The Jets are just so terrible that NBC doesn’t want to put them in prime time.
Instead, the Patriots will face the Jets at 4:25 PM EST on CBS. This opens up the Patriots to be flexed into a different prime time game later in the season, but week 15 against the Broncos is the only interesting game- and the Broncos can’t have any more prime time games.