The National Football League didn’t announce its schedule for the final weekend, this coming weekend, until today.
And that, as it turned out, was a great move.
Sure, we know who plays where – we’ve known that for a while. But the best thing about the final week is that the games that mean the most will be placed, time-wise, where they’ll get the largest audiences.
For example, Baltimore and Pittsburgh have already played twice, but the AFC North Division is still up for grabs. One of those two teams will be in the playoffs with a division championship, and the other will be a wild card.
So the league made it an All-AFC North Saturday. Baltimore (11-5) will host Cleveland on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., and the Steelers (10-6) will host Cincinnati just after that, at 7 p.m., and both games are on ABC / ESPN, a doubleheader.
Drop in the “little” factoid that Cincinnati (7-8) also still has playoff hope, and that’s a pretty darn good NFL Saturday.
Among the games with meaning on Sunday: Atlanta and Tampa Bay are fighting for the NFC North championship. This week, the Falcons will host Carolina, and Tampa Bay will host New Orleans. Both of those are in the early-game 1 p.m. Eastern / noon Central start – there will be a lot of flipping back and forth between those fan bases, and plenty of in-stadium score-watching going on.
In the late-afternoon kickoff at 4:25 /3:25, Denver, very much in the thick of the playoff hunt, will host Kansas City, who’s already wrapped up the No. 1 seed; it’ll be interesting to see if coach Andy Reid rests any starters, or just plays Denver straight-up. Then there’s the Los Angeles Rams hosting NFC West rival Seattle, also in that late-afternoon window, and with no Monday night game on the schedule, the final game of the regular season – Minnesota at Detroit – will decide the NFC’s top seed, and who gets home field advantage and a first-round bye.
Great job, NFL. And that’s why you’re No. 1.
NBA, NHL, and even Major League Baseball: are you paying attention?
