Games the NFL should flex into ‘Sunday Night Football’ in Week 10

Allow us to make an appeal to the NFL: No one wants to see the Jets and Raiders in primetime in Week 10, including fans of both franchises.

The deadline for the NFL to take that dreadful matchup featuring one offense led by Zach Wilson and the other coached by Josh McDaniels is Tuesday, Oct. 31, giving the league little time to waste in getting it off our TVs. Does the league really want to scare off all the Taylor Swift fans it gained so soon?

Truthfully, any other game scheduled for that weekend would be a better advertisement for the league. However, here are the three most intriguing games the league should consider flexing into primetime.

3. Cleveland Browns (4-3) at Baltimore Ravens (6-2)

This AFC North battle might not always be pretty, but that’s the beauty of it. Per FTN Fantasy’s Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA), the Ravens and Browns have the two best defenses in football, making it one of the best matchups of Week 10. The fear the NFL might have in putting this game in primetime is it repeating the teams’ Week 4 meeting when Baltimore handily won 28-3. Lamar Jackson was efficient, going 15-of-19 for 186 yards and accounting for all four Ravens touchdowns. Dorian Thompson-Robinson started that game for Cleveland, and even if Deshaun Watson can’t play, P.J. Walker has kept the Browns competitive in recent weeks despite posting horrible numbers. He is 48-of-97 (49.5 percent) for 618 yards, one touchdown and five interceptions. Even if the Browns offense is unwatchable, seeing defensive end Myles Garrett try to chase down Jackson for four quarters would be worth flexing this one into primetime.

2. Detroit Lions (5-2) at Los Angeles Chargers (3-4)

Chargers head coach Brandon Staley can’t spoil an opportunity to get quarterback Justin Herbert in front of a national audience. He was 31-of-40 for 298 yards and three touchdowns in Week 8’s 30-13 Sunday night win against the Bears. The Lions would be a much tougher test. Quarterback Jared Goff has the Lions offense clicking, averaging 24.9 points entering Monday night. Both coaches are among the most aggressive in football, which should keep the game entertaining. Since 2021, when Staley and Lions head coach Dan Campbell were hired, both Los Angeles and Detroit rank in the top five in fourth-down attempts.

1. San Francisco 49ers (5-3) at Jacksonville Jaguars (6-2)

How was this game not scheduled for primetime in the first place? It would be the second “No. 1 vs. Mr. Irrelevant” game for the league to market in three weeks, with the top pick of the 2021 NFL Draft (Trevor Lawrence) facing the last pick of the 2022 NFL Draft (Brock Purdy). Both teams are on their byes in Week 9, ensuring they will be fresh for what should be the most entertaining game of the weekend. San Francisco has lost three in a row and is entering must-win territory while Jacksonville could assert itself as a legitimate title contender with a sixth-consecutive win.