A Sixth Primetime Game?
May 17th, 2021
Peter King explains.
When the NFL released its 2021 schedule last week, there was one surprise for the Bucs.
That would be playing the Bills on a Sunday afternoon. The Bucs are scheduled to host the Bills on Dec. 12 at 4:25 p.m. in a nationally televised game.
Some advocated for the Bucs to host the Bills to kick off the season on Thursday night, Sept. 9. Instead, the Bucs will host the always-glitzy Cowboys.
The Bills, you may remember, advanced to the AFC title game last season and have one of the best young quarterbacks in the game in Josh Allen.
(For the whiners who kvetch about Joe’s use of adjectives, something done here since this very site since was launched in August 2008, Joe is going to do you select haters and whiners a solid here. Joe is warning you: Here it comes. So throw down a slug of your morning coffee. Take a deep breath and hold on to your office chair.)
But hold up, says hot-dog-eating-contest-protesting, mock-draft-scowling, L.L.-Bean-wearing, Second Amendment abolitionist, Mike-Florio-arguing, parrot-insensitive, chewing-with-his-mouth-open, soup-gulping, California-train-romancing, anti-football proliferation, outhouse-admiring, airline-napping, steerage-flying, Yogi Berra-worshiping, urinal-picture-taking, video-game-playing, Taylor-Swift-listening, pickpocket-thwarting, Bucs-uniform-frowning, Allie-LaForce-smitten, Big-Ten-Network-hating, pedestrian-bumping, olive oil-lapping, popcorn-munching, coffee-slurping, fried-chicken-eating, oatmeal-loving, circle-jerking, craft-beer-chugging, cricket-watching, scone-loathing, college football-naïve, baseball-box-score-reading, NPR-honk, filthy-hotel-staying, fight-instigating, barista-training, Budweiser-tolerant, baseball-scorecard-keeping, pasta-feasting, vomit-dodging scrooge, Kay-Adams-following, Coors-Light-souring, pineapple-upside-down-cake-eating social activist and NFL insider Peter King of NBC Sports. King types this morning there is a guy who usually works in America’s northlands they may still determine if the Bills-Bucs game is an afternoon game or will be flexed to primetime on Sunday Night Football.
That man, per King, would be Packers drama queen quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
If Rodgers gets his way and is traded by the Packers or retires — as he has threatened to do unless the Packers can their general manager — King reports NBC and the NFL have backup plans that include replacing the Bears-Packers game with the Bucs, if the Packers stink as a result of losing Rodgers.
NBC has flex scheduling from Weeks 11 to 17. If the Packers are 4-8 with struggling Jordan Love at QB when that Bears game come up, the league could switch to Buffalo at Tampa, or Baltimore at Cleveland.
So for the people very surprised the Bucs will not play the Bills in primetime — Joe was surprised, too — that may still happen.
Of course, if Rodgers stays in Green Bay, the chances of that Packers-Bears game getting flexed out for the Bills-Bucs would be highly unlikely, unless the Bears circle the drain with Andy Dalton at quarterback.
May 17th, 2021 at 8:05 am
4:30 is prime time for me these days, I hate waiting ALL day for a night game that is not over until way past my bedtime.
If both teams are healthy that would be an excellent football game!
May 17th, 2021 at 8:08 am
Aaron Rodgers may not want to stay in Green Bay. However, he will owe Green Bay the 30 million signing bonus, if he decides to try and leave.
May 17th, 2021 at 8:15 am
True, but GB will not want to pay 30 million and keep the malcontent , the overhanging contract can be amended and both sides hit the dating bars
May 17th, 2021 at 8:18 am
I’m taking my homemade pirate ship to Hawaii where games start at 7am
May 17th, 2021 at 8:21 am
MedPete … that is the cool thing about California, well one of the many. Stick market closes at 1 and football games begin at 10 in the morning. In both cases you can get the serious stuff out of the way and then go outside and play!
May 17th, 2021 at 8:29 am
^^^^
With your mask on and only where Gavin deems appropriate, right comrade?
May 17th, 2021 at 8:31 am
SB-LV I am with you. The only ones excited about primetime games Are The media. Who the hell wants to get 4 hours sleep and go to work tired and hung over.
May 17th, 2021 at 8:35 am
Doooo, trust me California is far more than the big population centers and the stereotype that everyone is wacko libgressive
May 17th, 2021 at 8:54 am
@ SB~LV i love the west coast. Used to be a 48 state trucker & the Pacific coast is amazing
May 17th, 2021 at 8:56 am
The adjectives in red make them easier to skip…..please put Brady’s in red.
May 17th, 2021 at 9:04 am
Topdoggie:
Who cares? Not “the media.” When Joe works a Sunday or Monday night game, he may get to bed at 5 a.m. the following morning. There’s a boatload of fans who care because that puts the Bucs on the NFL’s biggest stage. Most of all, Team Glazer cares.
In some circles, those are called “hyperlinks.” Welcome to 1993 and our new class, The World Wide Web 101. Next we will discuss how to use a page known as a search engine called “Netscape” to find webpages on your dial-up. … 🙂
May 17th, 2021 at 9:13 am
Breathe Joe… breathe
May 17th, 2021 at 9:17 am
Thanks Joe. Let me help TBBF out. The hyperlinks in red make them easier to skip. Please put Brady’s hyperlinks in red. Thank you.
May 17th, 2021 at 9:19 am
A Rogers is going nowhere. GB would be stupid to trade him and Rogers would be even dumber to retire (and owe GB $30MM).
BUT, I get AR being pissed. If they drafted well, that 1st and 4th RD pick they used on getting some Love, might have produced a player (WR) that could have won the NFC Championship game. PLUS the stupid D call at the end of the first half. PLUS the stupid decision to take the ball out of AR’s hands at the end of the game when the Bucs were up by 8. That game could easily have gone either way…
Thank you GB!! #GoBucs!
May 17th, 2021 at 9:24 am
I love and hate this. The reason is that we were not very good on primetime games last season. I expect the Bucs to take the leap this year
May 17th, 2021 at 9:24 am
Rogers is a primadonna to be sure but I think he gets too much flack. Forget the money and consider for a moment if any of us would want some semblance of autonomy in our employment. Even contractual employment. I’ve worked with many contracts and none of them have the Byzantine clauses and penalty/remedies that exist in an NFL contract. It’s okay for somebody to be in unhappy at their place of employment. Particularly given the evidence as stated by senor Costa above not to mention other evidence. I don’t blame the guy for being frustrated by his situation there.
May 17th, 2021 at 9:32 am
So……why not use hyperlinks for Brady?
May 17th, 2021 at 9:33 am
As you point out, Joe, the Bills game is already a national Game of the Week–as are the Rams, Bears and one Saints game, so the Bucs already have nine games that will be nationally televised, if you include the Sunday 4:25 timeslot.
May 17th, 2021 at 9:37 am
Buffalo and TampaBay may be a great game, but the 2 cities are relatively small markets that don’t normally draw a large national audience.
May 17th, 2021 at 9:38 am
Lol, I remember the 4pm games were frowned upon by the local authorities, because people had been out there drinking since 11:00 a.m.
May 17th, 2021 at 9:47 am
Sucks to the kvetching whiners, Joe! Shine on you crazy diamond!!!!
Love to hear the story behind why King gets the king’s share of adjectives sometime. Cracks me up every time!
May 17th, 2021 at 9:54 am
Rodgers should bide his time till TB retires then sign with the Bucs.
May 17th, 2021 at 10:32 am
Can we get some adjectives for A-ARon?
Such as….
Prima donna, whiny, diva, overrated, arrogant teammate, poor pseudo-leader…
May 17th, 2021 at 11:18 am
Primetime games are Friday morning, Monday morning and Tuesday morning here in the Philippines,
It is better here lol. So it will be an awesome friday morning football Editon here to kickoff the season and curb stomp the Cowpokes. GO WORLD CHAMPION BUCS!!!! 20-0!!!!!
May 17th, 2021 at 11:24 am
No biggie, Joe. I skip the adjectives. Always have.
May 17th, 2021 at 12:32 pm
Primetime games (PTG) have added visibility, hype, and pressure.
Just like the playoffs.
More PTGs, please.
May 17th, 2021 at 1:11 pm
Keep the adjectives! Don’t bow to the haters!
May 17th, 2021 at 2:06 pm
SB~LV Says
“4:30 is prime time for me these days, I hate waiting ALL day for a night game that is not over until way past my bedtime.”
I feel the same, but because I’m old, not because of time zones 😉
May 17th, 2021 at 2:07 pm
I skip them too. Especially Peter Kings long list, lol. But I have nothing against Joe using them. It’s tradition.
May 17th, 2021 at 3:37 pm
I prefer the 1pm start games, so the prime time games, although a compliment to the Bucs, are not something I want.
May 17th, 2021 at 6:17 pm
I agree with the people who said put the eleventy million nicknames in red. They’re not annoying to skip over when they’re in red. I still think it’s beyond silly and I am 100% sure there are people who don’t read this here site because of the silliness. It’s a shame because the people I know who don’t read it, would absolutely love it. But they can’t get past the incessant silliness, so they won’t read it.