For the second consecutive season, the NFC East championship game will be the final game of the regular season.
The NFL has confirmed that the Week 17 Cowboys-Redskins game has been flexed to Sunday Night Football on NBC on December 30. That decision was widely expected, as Cowboys-Redskins will determine the winner of the NFC East and is the biggest game of the final week of the season.
Two Sunday afternoon games were also moved to the later kickoff window: Dolphins-Patriots on CBS has been moved to a 4:25 p.m. Eastern kickoff, while Packers-Vikings on FOX has also been moved to a 4:25 p.m. Eastern kickoff. With the Patriots still jockeying with the Texans and Broncos for AFC playoff position, it made sense to move the Patriots back so that an early Patriots loss wouldn’t render the Broncos’ game meaningless. And Packers-Vikings is a big game because the Vikings are in a “win and in” situation, not to mention the possibility of Adrian Peterson setting the NFL single-season rushing record.
And after those Sunday afternoon games are over, it will be time for Tony Romo and the Cowboys to take on Robert Griffin III and the Redskins, with the final playoff spot on the line.