Jerry Jones might not need to wear his sunglasses at night, on multiple upcoming evenings over the balance of the season.
As noted by Eric Fisher of FrontOfficeSports.com, two or three big-platform Cowboys games could be in danger of being relegated for better teams.
There’s a December 9 Monday night game against the Bengals and a December 22 Sunday nighter against the Buccaneers that could be replaced with something more compelling. Also, the Week 17 rematch with the Eagles currently is set for 4:25 p.m. ET, the key late-afternoon Sunday window. The Fox game could be flipped with Packers-Vikings, which is currently set for 1:00 p.m. ET that day.
The Cincinnati game likely won’t move, for two reasons. One, the Bengals (unlike the Cowboys) will still be postseason contenders. Two, ESPN is already preparing for an alternate broadcast featuring the Simpsons; presumably, the technological wheels are already in motion — and likely can’t be reconfigured to different teams only four weeks from date of the game.
No matter what happens with those games, everyone will be stuck with Giants-Cowboys in the middle window of the traditional Thanksgiving tripleheader. (There’s no flex option yet for Thanksgiving, even if there perhaps should be.)
In 2020, a Cowboys-49ers game was flexed out of Sunday night, due to the mutual struggles of both teams. Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin called it a “new low” for the franchise. The night game was regarded as such a given that former Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith didn’t know the time had changed until just a few days before kickoff.
At this point, everyone knows the Cowboys are cooked. Dak Prescott is reportedly done for the season, and the Cowboys have been horrendous at home. While plenty of folks might tune in just to enjoy watching the Cowboys further implode, the NFL traditionally has not been interested in the schadenfreude demographic.
Regardless, the way things are going for the Cowboys, most of America will happily forfeit the privilege of watching America’s Team by the time December rolls around.
