Will the NFL "flex" Cowboys out of prime time?

While it‘s been decades since the Dallas Cowboys won a Super Bowl or even an NFC title, they’ve at least had some decent regular seasons in the recent past, with their past three straight ending in 12-5 records.

Being “America‘s Team” - the wealthiest, most-watched, most popular team - the Cowboys have earned prime time television spots for years. They host a Thanksgiving game annually. Despite not being all that good, they tend to bring in huge audiences simply for being the Cowboys.

But this season, things are looking just a little different. The two-time defending Super Bowl champions (and undefeated) Kansas City Chiefs have taken over as the most-watched team in the NFL. And the Cowboys are on pace to have their worst season since 2015 when they finished 4-12.

They are at 3-6, have lost four straight games, their latest a 34-6 rout by the Philadelphia Eagles, they’re missing their starting quarterback Dak Prescott, not to mention several other key players, and they are predicted to go 3-8 by the time we get to Thanksgiving. With a defense that can‘t stop the run, an offense that can‘t run the ball and barely sees the end zone, and a coach who‘s got one foot out the door, the Cowboys just aren’t that fun to watch. So rumors have begun to swirl about the Cowboys potentially losing their prime time spots in the last few weeks of the season.

Will the NFL actually “flex” Cowboys out of primetime?

Let‘s take a look at the Cowboys’ upcoming schedule.

That‘s quite a lot of games Dallas has coming up with prime time slots and no competitors. Realistically, at least three of those games will not change. It‘s too late to change this week’s game against the Texans. Thanksgiving is a tradition and would be a challenging one to change even for future seasons. And the Monday night game against the Bengals will also feature an animated Simpsons universe and is unlikely to change at this point either. (Plus, the Bengals may actually be contenders.)

However, the Sunday Night Football game against the Bucs on December 22 and the national “America‘s Game of the Week“ game against the Eagles on Sunday, December 29 could potentially be at risk of changing thanks to the NFL‘s flex scheduling rules which allow teams to “play their way into primetime”. In the Cowboys‘ case, they‘re potentially playing their way out of it. The SNF game against the Bucs and the Week 17 game against the Eagles can both be moved with six days’ notice.

While the Cowboys have held bragging rights as holders of primetime spots for more than 30 years, they are not immune to being moved. And nothing about the team says they deserve a primetime spot right now, so yes...it’s very possible the NFL will actually do that.

It‘s marketing powerhouse Jerry Jones’ worst nightmare. Worse than his team having a losing season, or his $60 million star being out for the season, or his stadium design causing his own players to miss touchdown passes - worse than any of it, Jones' nightmare is that no one even cares enough about his team to watch them, and the NFL decides to relegate them down into the 1 p.m. slots with the rest of the league’s peasants.

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