The NFL has precisely scheduled the schedule for Week 17 (all matches at the RedZone conference on Sunday from 7 p. m. live on DAZN) and has surprisingly refrained from a final Sunday Night Game on New Year’s Eve. The reason for this is that there is no reason to risk a scenario, that one or both teams involved could not have a chance for the playoffs.
Contrary to the original plan, the games of Ravens – Bengals, Dolphins – Bills and Titans – Jaguars will be postponed from 7 pm to 10.25 pm (CET). The same applies to the NFC duel between the Panthers and Falcons as well as Saints and Buccaneers.
This also ensures that remote duels around the respective playoff spots take place simultaneously. For this reason, the usual primetime game was not used.
“Howard Katz, NFL Senior Vice President of Broadcasting, Howard Katz explained:” Whoever felt that it would be the fairest, both from a competitive point of view and from the fans’ point of view, to schedule all matches either in the 19 o’ clock or 22 o’ clock window,”which ensures that we will not have a New Year’s Eve playoff duel on Sunday night football that has no playoffs for one or both teams due to previous results.