Less than 24 hours after the comeback win over the Raiders on Christmas Eve, the Steelers received the gift of prime time.
The Steelers' Week 17 matchup with Ravens, which will be played on Sunday, Jan. 1 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, has been changed from a 1:02 p.m. kickoff to an 8:20 p.m. kickoff. The game will air on NBC's 'Sunday Night Football.' The originally scheduled matchup between the Rams and Chargers will now be a 4:25 p.m. kickoff, airing on CBS.
This is the second game this season that the Steelers have had flexed. Their Week 11 loss to the Bengals was originally set to be a Sunday Night Football matchup, but the league flexed the game to a 1:00 p.m. kickoff in favor of an AFC West showdown between the Chargers and Chiefs.
NFL's Flexible Scheduling Policy allows decisions for Sunday Night Football will be made on 12 days' notice for Weeks 5-14 and may be made on six days' notice for Weeks 15 and 17, if needed. Flexible scheduling for Monday Night Football does not begin until the 2023 season.
At 7-8, the Steelers are an unlikely candidate to make the playoffs. However, they still have an outside chance to earn a playoff spot by winning the remainder of their games while teams such as the Chargers, Dolphins, Patriots, Jets and Titans lose necessary games to catapult the Steelers into the seventh seed.
After a 2-6 start to the season, the Steelers have gone 5-2 over their past seven games. An improved Steelers team facing the 10-5 Ravens, who are currently fighting for the AFC North crown, is more than enough reason for the league to highlight one of its marquee rivalries.
As of Christmas Day, the Ravens are 4-point favorites over the Steelers. Baltimore squeaked out a 16-14 victory over the Steelers in Week 14.
