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Eagles

NFL considering flexing Eagles off NBC’s ‘Sunday Night Football’

The Birds could be demoted out of primetime thanks to their slow start and unwatchable second-half offense.

Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense have scored a combined three points in the second half of the past three games.
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense have scored a combined three points in the second half of the past three games. Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer
    by Rob Tornoe
    Published 

The Eagles are currently the opposite of must-see TV, which could lead to their schedule changing.

The Birds (2-3) are scheduled to face the Washington Commanders (1-3-1) on NBC’s Sunday Night Football in Week 8, a game that looks a lot worse on paper now than it did a few months ago when NFL schedule makers put it in primetime.

The Eagles, who have lost three straight, find themselves with a losing record for the first time under head coach Nick Sirianni. It also doesn’t help that the Birds have had an unwatchable second-half offense where the star has been punter Braden Mann. The Commanders are even worse, with just one win after an inexplicable collapse in overtime Sunday against the New York Giants (3-1-1).

As a result, the NFL is considering whether to flex Eagles-Commanders off NBC and replace it with a better matchup.

The league has until Oct. 20 to make a final decision, so it will depend what happens this weekend. The Eagles face the Carolina Panthers (2-2) at home in Week 6, while the Commanders face the undefeated San Francisco 49ers (5-0) Monday night on ESPN.

The NFL usually avoids flexing in and out of Sunday Night Football so early in the season unless it’s pretty clear one or both teams’ seasons are going in the wrong direction. The last time the NFL made an early-season primetime flex was in 2024, when it moved Eagles-Jaguars off Sunday Night Football in Week 9.

If the league moves Eagles-Commanders, there appear to be limited options to replace it. The most obvious would be Baltimore Ravens (4-1) vs. the Buffalo Bills (4-1), which is currently scheduled as a 1 p.m. regional game on CBS. But the game is likely protected by the network and the Ravens are scheduled to play the following Thursday night.

Under the NFL TV rules, Fox and CBS can pick one game a week to protect against being flexed into primetime, which they have to declare three weeks out.

Other options are:

  1. Minnesota Vikings (5-0) at Detroit Lions (3-2) on Fox at 1 p.m.

  2. Kansas City Chiefs (4-0) at Denver Broncos (3-2) on CBS at 4:25 p.m.

  3. Cleveland Browns (3-2) at Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2) on CBS at 1 p.m.

The NFL might be blocked from moving any of these. CBS and Fox are guaranteed at least one game of each divisional rivalry during the season from the AFC and NFC, respectively. And for all three matchups, their second divisional game is scheduled or has already been played on a different network.

One other option would be Indianapolis Colts (2-3) at Jacksonville Jaguars (4-1) at 1 p.m. on CBS, since their second game is in Week 18 and doesn’t yet have a network.

The NFL could also decide to swap games in Week 8 for Fox’s national 4:25 p.m. window, the league’s most-watched time slot. It’s currently stuck with the winless Los Angeles Charges (0-5) facing off against the Los Angeles Rams (2-3).

As a reminder, here are the current NFL flex rules:

  1. Sunday Night Football (NBC): The NFL can flex twice between Weeks 5-10 any game during Weeks 11-17. Early-season flexes through Week 13 require at least 12 days notice, which drops to six days notice for Weeks 14-17.

  2. Monday Night Football (ESPN/ABC): Any game between Weeks 12-17 can be flexed with at least 12 days notice.

  3. Thursday Night Football (Amazon’s Prime Video): Two games can be flexed between Weeks 13-17 with 21 days notice.

The NFL is certainly hoping the Eagles turn things around. The Birds are scheduled to appear in at least seven more standalone games this season, including four in primetime. That includes Christmas Eve against the Houston Texans and their Thanksgiving matchup against the Dallas Cowboys, which the NFL still hopes will top last year’s turkey-day audience of 57.3 million viewers.

Michael Barkann back at NBC Sports Philadelphia

Michael Barkann picked up right where he left off — reacting to a disappointing Eagles loss.

Barkann, the host of Eagles pre- and postgame coverage on NBC Sports Philadelphia dating back to the channel’s inception in 1997, had been off the air for a little more than a week after undergoing an emergency cardiac ablation, a procedure to stop dangerous heart rhythms not responding to normal treatment.

He returned Sunday, just in time to have his heart strength tested by another late-game collapse, this time against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.

“I don’t know of a tougher loss I’ve ever covered since the existence of Comcast SportsNet,” Barkann said. “And we’re pushing 30 years.

“That was a stake right through the heart,” Barkann added. “And my heart about now ain’t real ready to take that.”

There might be some recency bias there. In 2023, Barkann was quietly benched for two weeks over his reaction to the Eagles loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl, where he called a now-notorious holding penalty against cornerback James Bradberry late in the game “utter, complete b—.”

“You don’t make a call right then and there. You don’t let the game be decided by officiating,” Barkann said. “This is a freaking Super Bowl! And that should never happen!”

Quick hits

  1. Was Jason Kelce disappointed in Sunday’s Eagles loss? Probably. Did he punch a hole in the wall of the booth at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London out of frustration, as a viral post on social media claimed? Definitely not, according to an ESPN source.

  2. On Football Night in America, NBC used music associated with the classic ESPN highlight show NFL Primetime, which is still hosted on ESPN+ by Chris Berman. Beyond the rights issue, there’s some history here — NFL Primetime was forced off the air as part of NBC’s contract with the league when it took over Sunday Night Football in 2006.

  1. Two months ago, ESPN did not have a single reporter on the Sixers beat. Now that LeBron James has signed, they have two — Philly native and longtime NBA reporter Dave McMenamin and former Los Angeles Chargers reporter Kris Rhim, also a Philly native and Central High School alumnus.

  2. Calling Eagles-Panthers Sunday on CBS will be a familiar voice — Birds preseason announcer Ross Tucker, who will be in the booth alongside play-by-play announcer Ian Eagle. It’ll be the second time Tucker will call a Birds regular-season game on TV, which is two more than fellow CBS announcer and voice of the Phillies Tom McCarthy.