NFL flexes Week 16 Patriots vs. Ravens into SNF, bumps Bengals vs. Dolphins

The NFL has flexed a Week 16 matchup between the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens into the Sunday Night Football slot, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. It will replace the previously scheduled game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins.

The Ravens and Patriots will now kick off in the primetime spot at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Meanwhile, the Bengals and Dolphins have been moved to 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Flex scheduling allows the NFL to move more interesting matchups into the primetime slot, which is clearly what happened in this case. The Patriots are one of the best teams in the AFC with an 11-2 record and fighting for the No. 1 seed, while Baltimore (6-7), is still in a battle to earn one of the remaining playoff spots.

The Ravens are one game behind the Pittsburgh Steelers for first place in the AFC North. A win against the Patriots would go a long with with Baltimore and Pittsburgh still set to play against each other one more time to close out the regular season in Week 18.

As for Cincinnati (4-9) and Miami (6-7), neither team has technically been eliminated from the postseason just yet. However, the Dolphins would need to win out and have several other teams lose, while the Bengals would need to catch up to the Steelers and Ravens and win the AFC North.

This is not the only game that the NFL decided to flex for Week 16. The league also moved a matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears into an 8:20 p.m. ET spot on Saturday, Dec. 20. That bumped a game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders to 5 p.m. ET the same day.

Flex scheduling has been around in the NFL since 2006 and typically focuses on primetime games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights. This allows the NFL to adjust its schedule based on the results of the season to put more interesting matchups in those spots.

Additionally, the league has still not announced times or dates for Week 18 matchups. This allows the NFL to make sure that the most intriguing games can be put in the primetime slots for the final week of the regular season.

The game between the Patriots and Ravens carries big implications for both teams. Now they’ll get the chance to play on the big stage with a national audience.