The Patriots were embarrassingly flexed out of “Sunday Night Football” two weeks ago for their game against the Raiders. Now, they’ve been passed over entirely.
The NFL decided to flex Steelers-Ravens to SNF, pitting the two AFC North rivals against each other in primetime. The game is important: Baltimore is trying to stay within one game of the Bengals, whom they play in Week 18. The Steelers, meanwhile, are trying to pull off another late-season playoff run.
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At first, the NFL’s decision to move Steelers-Ravens to Sunday night was a bit surprising, considering other marquee games on the Week 17 schedule. But ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio reports that CBS had protected Vikings-Packers and FOX had protected Panthers-Buccaneers.
That means Dolphins-Patriots was the lone other option that league execs probably considered, and it isn’t hard to see why they thought Steelers-Ravens was a superior choice.
While Dolphins-Patriots is an elimination game, both teams are struggling: Miami has lost four in a row, and the Patriots have dropped four of five.
With Tua Tagovailoa in concussion protocol, it’s apparent the NFL made the right decision. The Patriots getting passed over for a late-season SNF game shows how far they’ve fallen.