Lamar Jackson and Drake Maye are going to be competing under the lights in Week 16.
On Monday, the NFL flexed the previously scheduled Sunday night game between Joe Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals and Tua Tagovailoa’s Miami Dolphins out for a showdown between the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots.
That the NFL would want to flex the game between the Bengals and Dolphins out comes as anything but a surprise.
While they are both still alive in the playoff race, Miami is 6-7 and Cincinnati is 4-9. Burrow is back in the lineup, but he missed significant time with a toe injury as his team plummeted in the AFC standings.
This also gives the league an opportunity to showcase Maye in a late-season game against a fellow AFC team.
The Patriots quarterback is second in MVP odds behind Matthew Stafford, per DraftKings Sportsbook, and has been brilliant in his second season while leading his team to an 11-2 record.
New England is tied with the Denver Broncos in the race for the AFC’s No. 1 seed and the first-round bye that comes with it, meaning there could be plenty of stakes when it faces Baltimore.
As for the Ravens, they are 6-7 and a game behind the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC North.
They could be playing for their postseason lives in Week 16, which will only add to the stakes. It could also be something of a passing-of-the-torch moment between the two quarterbacks considering Jackson won the league MVP in 2023 and was second in voting last season.
Between the star power and potential stakes in the AFC playoff race, this flex decision makes sense from the NFL’s perspective.