The Miami Dolphins' Week 16 game should have been a game made for prime viewing. Tua Tagovailoa is taking on Joe Burrow and the Bengals. It was a perfect setup for a Sunday night game. Now, the NFL is taking the two quarterbacks from the same draft class off the prime schedule.
Adam Schefter is reporting that the Miami Dolphins game against the Bengals will be flexed out of the NBC Sunday night spot in favor of the Patriots-Ravens game instead.
Typically, I would be all for having the Dolphins taken out of that spot, but the Patriots are looking at the number one seed, and the Ravens may not even make the playoffs.
NFL doesn't view Dolphins and Bengals as a game that needs more viewership
The Dolphins will now host Cincinnati at 1:00 on Sunday. The night game will be held in Baltimore. What makes this funny is that the Ravens could be eliminated from the playoffs before the Dolphins are.
Miami will play the Steelers this week on Monday Night Football and then will host the Bengals.
Some fans will naturally be upset, mainly if they chose to attend the week 16 game because it was being played at night. Moving the game to 1:00 at least won't mess up pre-planned travel. That has been a nightmare in the past. There have been games that have been flexed to a later time when they were supposed to be heading to an airport.
The Bengals are 4-9 heading into Week 15. They lost to the Bills in Week 14 after leading most of the game. Both teams currently have only a 1% chance of making the playoffs. The Ravens, on the other hand, stand in the way of Miami's pursuit of a miracle run to the postseason.
Baltimore is 6-7, like Miami, but holds the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Ravens lost to the Steelers in Week 14.
The NFL has also decided to move the Packers and Bears to Saturday night in the 8:20 slot. The Eagles and Commanders will move from that spot to 5:00 pm.