Week 16 schedule contains odd glitch for the Saturday games
The NFL.com version of the 2025 schedule currently shows that those games will happen on Friday, December 19.
Advertisement
Also, the official website schedule for each of the four teams contains a TBD as to the time AND the date of the Week 16 games. (For confirmation — and acknowledging the possibility they might change it before you click on it — here are the Eagles, Commanders, Packers, and Bears.)
Again, there are other indications that the games are indeed set for Saturday, December 20. But if the use of "Friday, December 19" on the main NFL.com schedule is a typo, it's a bizarre one. It wasn't the result of a misplaced finger; someone specifically picked Friday, December 19 as the date for those two games.
While there's no reason to think the games will be played on Friday, it makes us wonder whether at some point the plan was to play the games (which supposedly will begin at 4:30 p.m. ET and 8:00 p.m. ET) on Friday.
It meshes with the notion that, in time, the league will take even greater advantage of the fringes of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which allows the NFL to televise games on Friday night and Saturday before the second weekend in September and after the second weekend in December.
Advertisement
Is it crazy to think that, as of last week, those games were going to be played on Friday night and that, after Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said in a committee hearing regarding the pivot from broadcasting to streaming that the NFL has "tiptoed up to the rule," the NFL decided to move the games from Friday to Saturday, which is the far more traditional spot for late-season non-Sunday games?
Whatever the explanation, it's one of the very weird things we noticed when scouring over the schedule. And it could be a sign that, sooner than later, late-season Fridays will become the newest spot in the pizza into which the cheese is stuffed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
John Harbaugh says Ravens starting O-Line is set; Final 4 roster spots set for evaluation
The Ravens will have two more practice sessions before their Saturday afternoon preseason finale against the Washington Commanders. Baltimore will start Andrew Vorhees at left guard, along with four holdovers from the 2024 season. Following the Ravens' Tuesday practice, head coach John Harbaugh confirmed the starting unit, while confirming the team is still evaluating four or five backups that'll make the 53-man roster. This article originally appeared on Ravens Wire: John Harbaugh says Ravens starting offensive line is set for Week 1
14 minutes ago
Texas QB Manning says NFL plans not taking shape yet despite grandpa's prediction of 2026 in Austin
AUSTIN, Texas -- There's so much speculation about Texas quarterback Arch Manning's future, in the media and even within his own family, that it can be hard for him to keep up. On Tuesday, Manning insisted he's not plotting out how long he'll stay at Texas or when he'll enter the NFL draft, despite his grandfather's recent prediction to Texas Monthly magazine that he'll be with the Longhorns through the 2026 season. 'I don't know where he got that from,' Arch Manning said in his first meeting with reporters since SEC media days in mid-July. 'He texted me to apologize about that. I'm really just taking it day by day right now.' Arch Manning has been careful while talking about his future as he leads the No. 1 Longhorns as the full-time starter after playing behind Quinn Ewers the past two seasons. Manning enters this season as the early favorite for the Heisman Trophy, has endorsement deals worth millions and comes from the most famous quarterbacking family in football. Grandfather Archie played in the NFL and uncles Peyton and Eli combined for four Super Bowl victories. Add that together and Arch Manning is shouldering the biggest spotlight of any player in the country. Texas opens the season Aug. 30 at No. 3 Ohio State after losing to the Buckeyes in the national playoff semifinals last season. Manning is also very close to his grandfather, despite any confusion about whether he's destined for one or two seasons as the Texas starter before heading to the NFL. Manning noted Tuesday how Archie is always giving him advice on how to avoid taking big hits to prolong his career. 'Those hits add up,' Arch Manning said. 'My grandfather, he's hobbling around these days. He ends every call with 'get down or get out of bounds.''
USA Today
14 minutes ago
- USA Today
Stephen A. Smith makes ridiculous argument suggesting Rams should start Stetson Bennett
Matthew Stafford is practicing, but there are still a lot of concerns as to whether or not he'll be available for the Los Angeles Rams' Week 1 showdown with the Houston Texans on Sept. 7. If Stafford to to miss that game, the prevailing theory is that Jimmy Garoppolo would start at quarterback, considering he hasn't played a preseason snap this summer and has ample NFL experience. ESPN's Stephan A. Smith has a different idea for who should start if Stafford can't suit up: Stetson Bennett. Smith noted that while he hasn't watched Bennett's tape over the past two preseason games, he thinks Bennett's box scores speak for themselves and that the Rams should give him the starting role ahead of Garoppolo if needed. "I get the experience factor [with Garoppolo]. I get the fact that you can lean on what's done in the past, " Smith said on First Take. "The point is, at the end of the day, can we definitively say that he's looked better than Stetson Bennet thus far? I'm just going with the best — who's looked the best? I haven't seen Stetson Bennett, I know his his stats ... but his numbers look good. We're just ignoring that because we're going to lean on Jimmy G's experience? What if this brother is balling during the preseason and he can ride that momentum into the first part of the season? This is a wild argument for starting the 2023 fourth-round pick over the 11-year veteran. Now, Bennett has looked good through two preseason games: He's completed 68.8% of his passing attempts (44-of-68) for 512 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. Bennett also won both games, including a game-winning score against the Los Angeles Chargers. But does that mean he should just start over Garoppolo? Absolutely not. For one, Bennett has zero regular-season experience. Garoppolo has 82 games and 64 starts under his belt, as well as 17 playoff appearances. We also can't forget how Bennett played in the prior two preseasons, where he passed for 784 yards, three touchdowns and eight interceptions in five games. Momentum is nice, and Bennett has been much improved since he entered the league in 2023. But to suggest he's ready to face a DeMeco Ryans defense in Week 1 that features 2023 Defensive Rookie of the Year Will Anderson Jr. and five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Danielle Hunter is laughable.
