Two of Jets' five remaining nationally televised games eligible for flex
The NFL's media partners were as disappointed with Aaron Rodgers' season-ending injury as the Jets were.
Once Rodgers landed in New York with a trade from Green Bay, the NFL scheduled the Jets for six nationally televised games. Five are in prime time.
Now, with Rodgers out, the league, its networks and its fans are stuck with some Jets games in prime time that it can't move.
The team's Week 4 game against the Chiefs on Sunday Night Football on Oct. 1 will remain on NBC. The Week 9 game against the Chargers on Monday Night Football on Nov. 6 will remain on ESPN. The Week 12 game against the Dolphins on Black Friday (Nov. 24) will remain on Prime Video.
The NFL, though, can flex the Jets' Week 10 game against the Raiders on Sunday Night Football on Nov. 12 with 12 days' notice. Thus, a decision has to be made by Oct. 31. The 49ers play the Jaguars and the Packers play the Steelers that week, both of which might be possibilities to take the place of Jets-Raiders.
The Jets' Week 17 game against the Browns on Dec. 28 could become the first Thursday Night Football game flexed. It requires 28-days notice to be flexed, so Nov. 30 is the deadline. The Dolphins at the Ravens could be a possibility.
The Jets haven't given up on the Jets, and neither has the league. Yet.
"Sitting here today, we have a lot of football ahead of us before we look at any final decisions for any network and any eligible window," Hans Schroder, the NFL's executive vice president, chief operating officer, NFL Media, said Tuesday in a conference call. "Every year we look at each of those starting multiple weeks out, each game and each window, with that focus of making sure and being laser-focused on is there an opportunity that is something we can work across partners and get the best game into the right window? We certainly look at that. There are a lot of variables and considerations that go into what that best game is, and so that has to work on a number of levels. . . . There is a lot of football left between now and then."
