The NFL made a rare two-week schedule adjustment Monday, using its flex powers to shuffle four games and alter one kickoff time while spreading the changes across Week 9 and Week 11.
Two of the moves land in Week 9 on Nov. 8, with both games changing TV networks. Raiders at 49ers will now kick at 4:25 p.m.
ET on Fox instead of 4:05 p.m. ET on CBS, while Lions at Dolphins shifts to Fox at 1 p.m.
ET from CBS.
That Raiders-49ers swap pushes the game into the premium late-afternoon slot for Week 9. Fox holds the national doubleheader that week, and the network will now carry three games in the 4:25 p.m.
ET window, including Packers-Patriots and Cardinals-Seahawks. With 49ers-Raiders moving over to Fox, Texans at Chargers becomes the lone CBS game in the late window and stays at 4:05 p.m.
ET.
The other two changes come in Week 11 on Nov. 22, and this set sends a Bills game from Fox to CBS. Buccaneers at Lions will remain a 1 p.m.
ET kickoff, but it moves to Fox from CBS, while Dolphins at Bills also stays at 1 p.m. ET and flips from Fox to CBS.
The Bills switch is the headliner in that group. Fox already had a Bills game earlier this season, which likely helped open the door for the move since the network probably wouldn’t have wanted to lose its only shot at featuring Josh Allen this year.
Even after those adjustments, one more flex decision still hangs over Week 9. The NFL has until the end of the day Tuesday, Oct. 27, to decide whether to move the Sunday night game between the Buccaneers and Bears in Chicago.
Tampa Bay is 2-5, which gives the league reason to consider a change. But there are a couple of reasons the game could stay right where it is. It’s the only Sunday night game on the Bears’ schedule, and the Buccaneers have won two of their last three after opening 0-4.
Given that mix, Buccaneers-Bears staying on Sunday night would not be a surprise.
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