With the end of the NFL season getting closer, schedule flexes are coming quickly and regularly, with the league announcing changes on Monday for Week 15.
Week 15’s originally scheduled “Sunday Night Football” game between the Las Vegas Raiders and New England Patriots has been flexed out by NBC and will be replaced with the game between the New York Giants and Washington Commanders.
Schedule change: #Patriots–#Raiders in Week 15 has been flexed out of Sunday Night Football and will be replaced with #Giants–#Commanders.
New England/Vegas moves to 4:25pm ET.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 5, 2022
On paper, Josh McDaniels’ first game against the Patriots certainly looked good at the start of the season. With the Raiders at 5-7 and the Patriots at 6-6, however, it looks a lot less appealing, and a potentially decisive NFC East battle was always going to be preferred.
The replacement game comes as a bit of a surprise considering initial speculation had it being played on Saturday. Ultimately, a big-market matchup is precisely the sort of game NBC would want at that stage of the season.
