The executives of ESPN got an early Christmas present when the Arizona Cardinals upset the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday afternoon. The result has a double meaning for the San Francisco 49ers, who play on Monday Night Football against the Atlanta Falcons (8:30 PM ET, ESPN), and instead of a meaningless MNF finale, ESPN now gets one chock full of significance.
There’s two weeks to go in the regular season, as we get set for NFL Week 16 there are a lot of decisions–from play-calling to officiating to personnel–that are going to be debated. A few decisions for this week already qualify as late-season choke jobs, and it’s the ones made by the TV networks. For example…
It wasn’t that long ago that Sunday afternoon’s tilt between the New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens looked like a possible Super Bowl preview. It still might end up that way, but both teams are struggling, with the Giants having lost control of their division, and the Ravens fighting to hang on in theirs. It’s this showcase game from Baltimore (4:25 PM ET, Fox) that serves as the focal point of our NFL Week 16 previews, with the NFC East & AFC North up for grabs.
The city of New York opens the week in sports tonight, with the Jets playing Tennessee in Monday Night Football (8:30 PM ET, ESPN) and the Big Apple comes close to closing it as well, when it’s Giants-Ravens (4:25 PM ET, Fox) in the featured late afternoon game next Sunday. The Jets are unexpectedly in the playoff picture if they win tonight and the Giants are unexpectedly in danger of falling out, having lost control of their destiny in the NFC East and struggling to hold on for a wild-card.