The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers had to wait 13 weeks for the first of their two inter-divisional matchups in 2023. Now they'll have to wait a few more hours for kickoff.
On Tuesday, the NFL announced that it has "flexed" two of the games on their Week 13 schedule, both on Sunday afternoon. The Buccaneers and Panthers, originally scheduled to kick off at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, December 3, will now begin at 4:05 p.m. The Houston Texans home game against the Denver Broncos on that same day has been switched in the opposite direction, moving from 4:05 to 1:00. Both games will be broadcast by CBS.
This is the second time this season the Buccaneers have had one of their games flexed. Their Week Six matchup against the Detroit Lions, which at the time featured a pair of first-place teams, was moved from the 1:00 p.m. ET window to a 4:25 time slot in order to show it to a larger audience. That coincided with the return of the Bucs' Creamsicle uniforms.
The second meeting between the Buccaneers and Panthers this season will take place in the 18th and final week of the regular season. That one, too, will involve in-season scheduling information because the league has not yet set the dates and times for that weekend's games, which will be spread across Saturday and Sunday, January 6 and 7.
The NFL has used a "flexible scheduling procedure" since 2006 to present notable matchups to wider audiences, and in 2023 that procedure was expanded to include Monday night and Thursday night games. For contests flexed from early to late afternoon on Sunday, the league must inform teams and their fans of the change at least 12 days before the game.
