If the Eagles make the playoffs, when will they play? It’s complicated.
If the Eagles win on Sunday and make it into the playoffs, they could end up in the same time slot and network as last season, when they defeated the Chicago Bears.
Heading into the final week of the NFL season, 10 of the 12 playoff spots have already been secured. It just so happens one of the two remaining involve the Eagles.
For the Birds to punch a ticket to the playoffs, they’ll either have to defeat or tie the New York Giants on the road, or the Dallas Cowboys need to lose at home against the Washington Redskins. Both games were flexed by the NFL and will kickoff at 4:25 p.m.
If the Eagles manage to win the NFC East, they’ll enter the playoffs as the No. 4 seed and play a home game at Lincoln Financial Field during the wild-card round the first weekend of January. They’d face the No. 5 seed, which will end up being the loser of Sunday night’s matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks.
Here’s the current NFL playoff picture, heading into Week 17:
What does the NFC playoff picture look like?
San Francisco 49ers (12-3), clinched playoff berth
Green Bay Packers (12-3), clinched division
New Orleans Saints (12-3), clinched division
Philadelphia Eagles (8-7)
Seattle Seahawks (11-4), clinched playoff berth
Minnesota Vikings (10-5), clinched playoff berth
In the hunt: Dallas Cowboys (7-8)
What does the AFC playoff picture look like?
Baltimore Ravens (13-2), clinched home-field advantage
New England Patriots (12-3), clinched division
Kansas City Chiefs (11-4), clinched division
Houston Texans (10-5), clinched division
Buffalo Bills (10-5), clinched playoff berth
Tennessee Titans (8-7)
In the hunt: Pittsburgh Steelers (8-7), Oakland Raiders (7-8)
In the wild-card round, every network broadcasts one game each. Fox and CBS will air an NFC and AFC game, respectively, leaving the remaining two games to NBC and ESPN (which will also simulcast on ABC). During the divisional round, NBC will land an NFC game, because the network broadcast an AFC game last season. CBS will air two games during the divisional round, leaving Fox with just one.
If the Eagles make the playoffs, it’s almost a guarantee they’ll play on Sunday, Jan. 5, on either Fox or NBC. Not only is Philadelphia among the largest television markets in the country, it would allow whichever West Coast team they face an extra day to travel across the country. Last season, the Eagles’ wild-card win over the Chicago Bears (the “double-doink game”) aired on NBC at 4:30 p.m.
How does the NFL decide which games land on which networks? On Sunday evening, when the playoff teams are determined, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and senior vice president of broadcasting Howard Katz jump on a massive conference call involving several NFL departments, including broadcasting, football operations, and PR. There, they look at weather scenarios and ratings predictions, as well as any requests from networks and team owners. But in the end, it’s Goodell and Katz who make the final decision on the playoff schedule.
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The 4:30 p.m. broadcast window on Sunday afternoon remains the most highly coveted time slot, and the NFL puts together its wild-card playoff TV schedule to build up to it over the weekend. That’s why the weakest matchup has aired on Saturday afternoon on ESPN.
“We spend a ridiculous amount of time worrying about it and panicking and laying out options, hoping we land on the right spot,” Mike North, vice president of NFL broadcast planning, told the Inquirer. “A lot of it just comes down to luck.”
The NFL will likely announce the wild-card and divisional round playoff schedule during Sunday Night Football.
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