If the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins win this week, their Week 17 matchup will decide the NFC East title.
Last year's NFC East title matchup of the Cowboys and New York Giants wound up being flexed to NBC on "Sunday Night Football." Logically, the Cowboys-Redskins game would be a prime candidate to do the same. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones doesn't believe it will happen.
"Right now it's scheduled to be played as played, and I'm doubtful that one will be changed," Jones said Wednesday on his KRLD-FM show, via DallasCowboys.com
Interesting. These comments by Jones hardly are made in a vacuum. There is a lot of conversation and negotiating between the networks, teams and NFL about these Sunday night matchups. Jones obviously is in a position to know which way the winds are blowing.
Troy Aikman of Fox Sports expressed his displeasure last season at "losing" the Cowboys-Giants game last season to NBC. Perhaps there is some concern about taking such a great game away from Fox again. Other candidates could include Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings, Baltimore Ravens-Cincinnati Bengals or even St. Louis Rams-Seattle Seahawks or Cleveland Browns-Pittsburgh Steelers if Seattle or Pittsburgh are in a "win-and-in" situation.
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Choosing the Week 17 game is tricky and will be heavily dependent on the results of Week 16. NBC and the NFL have to choose a game they know will be meaningful. They will take a win-and-in type of game over all others. They can't choose a game that could be rendered unimportant by the time it's played.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.