Someone has to win the NFC East, and it looks like the NFL wants us all to figure out who’s going to take the division crown home. For week 17, the game between Washington and Philadelphia is being extended until Sunday night.
The last week of the NFL season is almost always one of the wildest weeks of the year, and it usually happens for two reasons: for one, it’s the only week of the regular season where each team plays on the same day; and two, this is the week in which the race for the final few playoff spots (and final result) will finally end.
To make things fair during the final week of the season, the NFL waits as long as possible before announcing the kick-off times for Week 17, and those times were finally announced Sunday night, while the NFC East gets the main game.
Given the new kick-off times for Sunday, it looks like we’re going to get a wild finish to the NFL season.
For the Sunday night game, the NFL wants at least one team in a do-or-die situation, and that will happen with Washington. No matter what else happens on Sunday, Washington will win the NFC East title with a win, but if the soccer team loses, the division championship will feature the winner of the Cowboys-Giants game. Putting the NFC East ahead is the perfect way to end this perfectly crazy season.
The ET slot for 13:00 was mostly given to AFC teams. In Week 17, there are five teams – the Titans, Colts, Browns, Dolphins and Ravens – vying for four spots. The browns, dolphins and crows start at 1pm ET.
After the early games, the ET will give us the battle for the last two playoff spots in the NFC at 16:25. On the side of the case, the Rams, Cardinals and Bears will shell out for the two remaining wildcard spots. The top seed in the NFC will also be available during the 16:25 ET window.
In recent years, you could have a scenario where the Bears started at 13:00 ET and the Rams Cardinals game at 16:25 ET. In that case, if the Bears had kicked off and lost first, the Rams could have simply rested their beginners in the later game, as they would have been able to pick up a play-off chair with Chicago’s early loss. The NFL wants to avoid such situations, which is why the league waits so long to announce the kickoff times.
The AFC South will also be at 16:25 ET, with the Colts (against Jacksonville) and the Titans (in Houston) both starting in the late window.
Click here for the full kick-off schedule for week 17. For an updated look at the playoffs, click here.
13:00 ET
Dolphins at Bills (CBS)
Ravens at Bengals (CBS)
Steelers by Browns (CBS)
Jets at Patriots (CBS)
Vikings at Lions (Fox)
Cowboys at Giants (Fox)
Falcons by Buccaneers (Fox)
16:25 ET
Saints at Panthers (Fox)
Packers at Bears (Fox)
Raiders by Broncos (CBS)
Loaders by Chiefs (Fox)
Cardinal by Frame (CBS)
Seahawks at 49ers (Fox)
Titans by Texans (CBS)
Jaguars by Colts (CBS)
20:20 ET
Washington in Philadelphia (NBC)