Used to be the networks fought over those late-season Patriots-Colts matchups.
Now they can't wait to get rid of them.
NBC announced Tuesday that it is giving this year's Indianapolis-at-New England game on Dec. 4, originally scheduled for Sunday Night Football at 8:20 p.m., back to CBS. And the Patriots subsequently announced that the game will begin at 1 p.m. . . . making it the first 1 p.m. start at Gillette this year. (Two others -- the Dec. 24 meeting with Miami and the season-ending Jan. 1 game against Buffalo -- are scheduled for 1 p.m., but one or both could be flexed to a later time.)
The reason? The Colts are 0-9 and the Patriots are 5-3, which is not what NBC expected -- or hoped -- when the game was originally scheduled.