WEEKLY WHINE
GoobNet welcomes you to the following presentation of the National Football League
There now follows a ranking of the top time slots for this year’s NFL regular season games.
- Sunday 13:00 ET: 151 games are currently scheduled for this time slot this year, including last week’s Atlanta-NY Giants game. However, the total will likely be revised, as the flexible scheduling rules allow the league to move games to different time slots late in the season.
- Saturday 20:25 ET: This time slot is used only twice this year. The NY Jets-Dallas game in the fifteenth week and the Washington-Philadelphia game in the sixteenth week receive this honour.
- Monday 22:20 ET: This time slot is used only in the first week of the season. The Minnesota-San Francisco game took this position this year. This is the only weeknight time slot that actually accommodates residents of the Mountain and Pacific time zones in any way.
- Sunday 20:30 ET: Seventeen games are to be played in this time slot this year. The games in the later weeks are yet to be decided, owing to the recent innovation of flexible scheduling. This gives the NFL the opportunity to promote important games at a prominent time. Still, there was something hilariously charming in the way the league used to be stuck with bad matchups, such as the infamous Detroit-Green Bay game on the evening of SUN 11 DEC 2005. Both teams were well out of playoff contention, and only two touchdowns were scored in the entirety of the game. Green Bay finally kicked a winning field goal in overtime to reach the lofty heights of a 3-10 record.
- Monday 19:10 ET: This time slot is used only in the first week of the season. The Philadelphia-Atlanta game took this position this year.
- Thursday 12:30 ET: This time slot is used only in the twelfth week of the season, for the Philadelphia-Detroit Thanksgiving Day game.
- Thursday 16:30 ET: This time slot is used only in the twelfth week of the season, for the Carolina-Dallas Thanksgiving Day game.
- Sunday 09:30 ET: This time slot is used for the three games to be played in London: NY Jets-Miami next week, Buffalo-Jacksonville in the seventh week, and Detroit-Kansas City in the eighth week.
- Thursday 20:30 ET: This time slot is used only twice this year. The Pittsburgh-New England game took this position in the first week, and the Chicago-Green Bay Thanksgiving evening game took this position in the twelfth week.
- Monday 20:30 ET: Fifteen games are to be played in this time slot this year, including the Cincinnati-Denver game in the sixteenth week. The NFL continues to insist upon a single time slot for all Monday night games, regardless of the time zone in which the game is actually played. Supporters of teams such as San Francisco and Seattle are thus forced to leave work early when their teams play at this time.
- Sunday 16:25 ET: 29 games are currently scheduled for this time slot this year, including the New England-Dallas game in the fifth week. This time slot is used for CBS or Fox affiliates that show an early game. This time slot has been subjected to kickoff creep over the years; at one time, all late games kicked off at 16:00 ET, but as the average game time increased, the league decided to move back the late time slot rather than actually do something to accelerate games.
- Sunday 16:05 ET: Twenty games are currently scheduled for this time slot this year, including the Cincinnati-Arizona game in the eleventh week. This time slot is used for CBS or Fox affiliates that do not show an early game. Of course, there is no reason for this time slot to exist; all late games on Sunday afternoons should kick off at the same time.
- Thursday 20:25 ET: Fourteen games are to be played in this time slot this year, including next week’s Baltimore-Pittsburgh game. This is the worst time slot; there is, of course, no good reason to play a game on only four days rest. What is more, the last game in this slot falls on THU 24 DEC 2015.
| Week |
THU 12:30 ET |
THU 16:30 ET |
THU 20:25 ET |
THU 20:30 ET |
SAT 20:25 ET |
SUN 09:30 ET |
SUN 13:00 ET |
SUN 16:05 ET |
SUN 16:25 ET |
SUN 20:30 ET |
MON 19:10 ET |
MON 20:30 ET |
MON 22:20 ET |
Total |
| 1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
16 |
| 2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
16 |
| 3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
16 |
| 4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
15 |
| 5 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
14 |
| 6 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
14 |
| 7 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
14 |
| 8 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
14 |
| 9 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
13 |
| 10 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
14 |
| 11 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
14 |
| 12 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
16 |
| 13 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
16 |
| 14 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
16 |
| 15 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
16 |
| 16 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
16 |
| 17 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
13 |
0 |
3 |
* |
0 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
| Total |
1 |
1 |
14 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
151 |
20 |
29 |
16 |
1 |
15 |
1 |
256 |
* During the seventeenth week, one of the games currently scheduled in one of the other time slots will be moved to the Sunday 20:30 ET time slot.
