Patriots-Texans Flexed to Sunday Night Football

Their undefeated season may have ended, and they might be dealing with a truckload of injuries, but that hasn’t stopped the New England Patriots from scoring more than their fair share of the national spotlight in the lead up to the NFL playoffs.

The league has announced that the week 14 clash between the Patriots and Houston Texans will now take place on Sunday Night Football, as per the “flex” schedule that allows for the movement of more high profile games into primetime.

Mere weeks ago, New England’s trip down to Houston was supposed to be a low-interest affair given the sorry state of the AFC South. But with the Texans currently very much in the hunt for a wild card spot and, concurrently, challenging the Indianapolis Colts for the division crown, this is looking like a far more interesting matchup.

Indy, meanwhile, will compete in this week’s Sunday night game, a pivotal tilt with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The game arguably carries a “must-win” tag for the Black & Gold, whose hopes of making a comeback in the division were all but dashed last week in Seattle.

The planned primetime game in week 14 was supposed to be Seahawks-Ravens, but with Baltimore falling into an early-season tailspin from which it never recovered, coupled with a motza of injuries to practically every one of its nationally recognised players, a change had to be made.

At any rate, it’s shaping up to be a frantic and frenetic final six weeks, and it’s great to see the flex schedule once again bringing big-time showdowns into the national spotlight.