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The NFL made a schedule change on its Week 16 slate, announcing on Tuesday that the matchup between the Washington Football Team and Carolina Panthers has been moved from 1 p.m. to 4:05 p.m. ET. The game will still air on CBS.
Washington can clinch the division with a win and a New York Giants loss. However, regardless of the Giants outcome at Baltimore, a Washington win would eliminate the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys from playoff contention. The Eagles and Cowboys face off at 4:25 p.m. on Sunday and the Washington-Carolina schedule change likely works to maintain some value for Eagles-Cowboys.
NFL is doing this to make sure the Eagles-Cowboys game doesn't lose its luster. If Washington had won at 1 p.m. ET, Dallas and Philadelphia would have both been eliminated from the playoffs before even taking the field https://t.co/qX1URwB7Em
— John Breech (@johnbreech) December 22, 2020
Even without that issue, Washington-Panthers brings us the always popular revenge game narrative. Ron Rivera faces off against his former team and you know that angle will get thoroughly beaten into the ground over the course of this week and then during Sunday’s broadcast. The Panthers fired Rivera and he quickly moved on to Washington, where he is starting to find some success in the back half of the season. It’s not really a necessary angle, but we’ll hear plenty about it.
And in the meantime, Eagles and Cowboys fans get to pretend they still have a playoff hope for a couple more hours.