Eagles announcer Mike Quick pulled a John Kruk during win over Commanders

What is it with Philly sports announcers predicting plays?

First, it was Eagles announcer Merrill Reese foreseeing a timely New York Jets interception. During the Phillies season, NBC Sports Philadelphia announcer John Kruk predicted two home runs seconds before they happened.

It was Mike Quick’s turn Sunday. With the game tied midway through the fourth quarter, the former wide receiver turned color analyst on 94.1 WIP said Commanders quarterback Sam Howell was due for an interception.

“This would be the perfect time to get a takeaway,” Quick proclaimed just before Eagles safety Reed Blankenship stepped in for the interception, setting up a go-ahead touchdown by veteran receiver Julio Jones, his first since signing with the Birds.

Quick, a five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver for the Eagles who played from 1982 to 1990, has been a color commentator alongside veteran play-by-play voice Reese since 1998. The two are under contract with the Eagles through the 2024 season.

As far as announcers predicting plays, the go-to name has been former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. For a time, fans were calling him “Romostradamus,” but it’s a skill he’s backed off from in recent seasons. Still, Romo and Jim Nantz took time out of their broadcast during an Eagles games last season to praise Quick and Reese.

“This is my favorite hometown broadcast team,” Nantz said during the Eagles’ blowout win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. “Boy, do I love those two guys … Get a chance to listen to them, and you can with all the apps. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

If you’re looking for an easy way to listen to Reese and Quick call Eagles games, you can download the Eagles app and play their radio feed through your phone live during games. It’s not difficult to sync it up with the television broadcast, and the sound quality is good when streamed through smart speakers. But beware — the delay on radio is worse than TV, and you’ll need to stay off social media and ignore text messages if you don’t want the outcome ruined.

Football fans on social media Sunday were asking one question: Why didn’t the NFL flex out of a dreadful matchup between the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football?

The teams were a combined 4-10 entering Week 8, and the Chargers basically had the game locked up by the third quarter. But for the NFL to have flexed the game, it would’ve had to announce a change on Oct. 17, which obviously it didn’t.

The lack of flex is revealing. During the offseason, the NFL signaled it would be conservative with prime time flexes into Sunday Night Football after having expanded its ability to shift games in and out of Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football and ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Sunday’s game proved the bar to move games in and out of prime time has been set high.

It’s not as if the league has been all that aggressive with flexes. The NFL flexed four games into Sunday Night Football last season — Weeks 11, 14, 15, and 17 — but on average the league shifts its prime time schedule fewer than twice a year.

To recap, here are the flex rules for this season:

If the NFL is planning on flexing any Sunday Night Football games this season, the most likely target would be the Week 10 matchup between the New York Jets (3-4) and Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 12. The obvious replacement would be San Francisco 49ers (5-3) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars (6-2), who have won five straight games under former Eagles head coach Doug Peterson. That game is scheduled to air on Fox at 1 p.m., and likely isn’t protected by the network.

The Jets have been surprisingly competitive without Aaron Rodgers and are coming off a win against the New York Giants. For the NFL to even consider flexing, the Raiders would probably need to lose to the Detroit Lions tonight on Monday Night Football.

After that, the NFL’s prime time schedule is filled with games that are bad, but no so bad they need to be flexed (or the unprotected options to replace them aren’t much better). It doesn’t mean the NFL won’t make a move, but it’s becoming increasing possible this could be the first season since 2020 without prime time flexes.

The Eagles have two prime time games remaining on their schedule — Week 11 against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football, and Week 14 against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.