Mike Tirico joked about the Eagles and Commanders’ three combined wins on Sunday Night Football after pushing for more flexible NFL scheduling
Mike Tirico took a jab at the two teams playing on Sunday Night Football
Mike Tirico took a jab at the two teams playing on Sunday Night Football(Image: Getty)
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Mike Tirico has been pushing the NFL to change how it schedules prime time, and on Sunday night he got a chance to show why.
After a false start on the Commanders’ opening drive, with more than 12 minutes left in the first quarter, the NBC play-by-play man let the matchup speak for itself.
“Welp, two teams with three combined wins. Looking like it on the last three snaps,” Tirico said. The Eagles entered 2-5, the Commanders 1-4-1, and the game had been on the radar as a possible flex candidate.
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Last week, Tirico told Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel that the league should borrow from the Premier League, which lays out fixtures by match window and slots in kickoff times roughly six weeks ahead.
“I would lay it out like the Premier League,” Tirico said. “Here is match window 14 and here are the fixtures for that matchweek. And six weeks or so out, you start slotting them in.”
He argued it would save better games for late Sunday afternoon and Sunday night, and that Monday could be more flexible later in the season.
“The person who wins in flex is not the network, it’s the fan,” he said. “After two games on Sunday, you want a good game when it’s standing alone.”
Current rules limit that. NBC and ESPN cannot swap out non-marquee primetime games until Week 5 at the earliest, and the NFL may flex two games between Weeks 5 and 10, then more freely from Week 11 on.
Before Week 15 the league must give at least 12 days’ notice, dropping to six between Weeks 14 and 17. Thursdays are harder because those games must be built into the schedule before the season. Critics of Tirico’s idea point out that traveling fans would need more than six weeks to plan trips.
Tirico has been pushing the NFL to change how it schedules prime time
Tirico has been pushing the NFL to change how it schedules prime time(Image: Getty Images)
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The game gave him little reason to back off. Washington won 27-10 to improve to 2-4-1, while Philadelphia lost its sixth straight. The first half was sloppy on both sides. A Chig Okonkwo fumble led to a Saquon Barkley touchdown and a 10-0 Eagles lead, but Washington answered when Jayden Daniels hit Stefon Diggs for an 8-yard score and led 13-10 at halftime. Philadelphia did not score again.
A field goal that would have cut the lead was wiped out when Jordan Mailata lined up too far back, and Jake Elliott then hit the upright.
Later a 41-yard attempt missed, a 15-play drive that would have given the Eagles a chance to lead. Tanner McKee, pressured all night, was intercepted on fourth-and-25 by Rasul Douglass, and Rachaad White added a one-yard touchdown run. Daniels finished with 217 yards and a touchdown.
Philadelphia has been without Jalen Hurts, who is out for the season with blood clots in his lungs, and the Eagles’ offensive line is a shell of the group that once anchored the league’s best. The NFC East has been the weakest division in football this year.