NBC’s Mike Tirico said that he is “a fan of the NFL’s decision to expand flex scheduling this season to Monday Night Football,” something “he wishes the league was able to do during his 10 seasons calling the package on ESPN.” But in Philadelphia, Rob Tornoe notes that does not mean Tirico was "fully comfortable" with the league’s decision to move the Eagles’ Week 15 game against the Seahawks from Sunday afternoon to Monday night. Tirico would take a note from European soccer leagues like the Premiere League, where the complete schedule is not set before the season begins. Tirico’s suggestion would "be to start the season with the first eight weeks scheduled, then announce the rest in five-week increments." Tricio: “We’ve done it for Week 18, and it’s worked wonderfully. Given the way the league changes one year to the next, more than ever a cool team can get hot” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 12/9).
A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: THE ATHLETIC’s Richard Deitsch noted this is Mike North’s 25th year at the NFL and 22nd as part of the NFL’s broadcast department. This month marks a "big milestone" in North’s world: It is the first-ever “MNF” game to be flexed. North: “Anything we’re doing Monday night, we’re taking a game from Fox. It’s hard to find a situation where everybody can win in a flexible-scheduling decision. But what we found in Week 15 was a very unique set of circumstances. … The Patriots are having a more disappointing season certainly than they’d hoped and there was some understandable concern about the potential competitiveness of a Chiefs-Patriots game. Then we had a unique situation where we had scheduled Dallas–Buffalo and Philly-Seattle both for the 4:25 (ET) window on Fox. You can make a case that both of those games were worthy of their own window. We felt like this was an opportunity to unlock an under-distributed game in Philly-Seattle…” (THE ATHLETIC, 12/8).
DRAMATIC SCENE: NBCSPORTS.com’s Peter King writes he has not “seen anything regarding the real story of a player suffering a serious injury that’s as good as what HBO’s in-season ‘Hard Knocks’ just showed” with Dolphins LB Jaelan Phillips. Phillips “tore his Achilles” against the Jets on Black Friday. NFL Films had him “wired for sound at the Meadowlands” for the show. King: “The emotion, the drama, the tears, the poignant shots on Phillips pre- and post-injury, the impact on his teammates … it’s all there.” King notes the camera work “was great.” It “stayed on Phillips, silent as he lay there leaning on his left elbow, making no effort to get up.” For “four, five seconds, the camera showed Phillips trying to come to grips with knowing he just tore his Achilles” (NBCSPORTS.com, 12/11).
