Sorry Troy Aikman, but Fox is going to miss out on ratings gold in Week 17 for the second year in a row. Per ProFootballTalk.com, the NFL has confirmed that next Sunday’s de facto NFC East Championship game between Dallas and Washington will be played in primetime on NBC’s Sunday Night Football as opposed to Sunday afternoon on Fox.
It’s a tough break for Fox, because as much NFC East haters try to deny it, big games between NFC East rivals bring eyes to television sets like few other NFL matchups. Last year’s Week 17 play-in game between the Giants and Cowboys was a prime example. The NFL made a difficult decision to take this game away from one media partner (Fox) in order to benefit another one (NBC), but at the end of the day a play-in game between Tony Romo and Robert Griffin III probably should be played under the lights.
Fox’s consolation prize will be a 4:25 pm game between Green Bay and Minnesota. Minnesota is in the playoffs with a win, while the Packers will be playing to clinch a first-round bye thanks to tonight’s San Francisco loss in Seattle.