NFL Announces Changes to Two Week 6 Kickoff Times

We have our first flex of the season.

Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 4:25 p.m. window in Week 6, as their game was flexed into the better time slot. / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

The NFL has made two tweaks to its schedule for Week 6, swapping two games on the schedule.

On Monday, the league announced the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints will now play at 1 p.m. ET on CBS, moving from their original 4:25 p.m. time slot. The San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will now be flexed from the 1 p.m. window to the 4:25 slot to take the place of the Pats and Saints.

This seems to be a move to put a more interesting game in the 4:25 p.m. window. New England is 2-2 and the Saints are 0-4, while Tampa Bay and San Francisco are both 3-1 and sit atop their respective divisions. CBS and the league almost certainly wanted to feature an impactful game in that spot, given that there are only two other games in the late afternoon slate.

The Patriots hammered the Carolina Panthers 42-13 on Sunday, but still don't appear to be a playoff contender just yet. Meanwhile, the Saints have been a mess under first-year head coach Kellen Moore. New Orleans owns a -55 point differential, which is second-worst in the NFL ahead of only the woeful Tennessee Titans.

The 49ers and Buccaneers were both 3-0 after three weeks, but suffered their first defeats on Sunday. Tampa Bay fell at home to the Philadelphia Eagles 31-25, and San Francisco suffered an upset home loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

While the 49ers-Bucs game is undoubtedly better, the status of San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy remains unknown. The 25-year-old missed Weeks 2 and 3 due to a toe injury and reportedly aggravated the injury on Sunday.

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