Sunday Night Football Schedule 2013: Teams and Listings for Remaining Games

Although it's set in the preseason along with all 256 games in the NFL regular season, the Sunday Night Football schedule is always in a state of flux in the second half of the season.

Thanks to the distinction allowing NBC to "flex" games, fans are no longer subjected to contests based on wildly misguided preseason assumptions. You know, like the same preseason assumptions that gave us the wonderful battle between the Bucs and Dolphins last week or the eyesore of Vikings-Giants on Oct. 21.

That doesn't happen on NBC's watch, and we'll get the first glimpse of that relative scheduling autonomy when the Denver Broncos host the undefeated division rival Kansas City Chiefs later Sunday night. Originally, rather than a game consisting of teams with a combined 17-1 record, the Week 11 Sunday Night Football schedule called for a Packers-Giants matchup.

Yes, Green Bay without Aaron Rodgers. And New York with 2013 Eli Manning. I'm pretty sure the scheduling wizards had something better in mind when they tossed that contest on the slate. But, alas, prime-time fans will instead get to see a battle for AFC West supremacy, while Giants-Packers receives the stylings of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman from Fox.

Everyone wins.

While there are a couple games remaining on the slate that may see some additional flexing from the NFL—looking at you, Giants-Redskins on Dec. 1 and Falcons-Packers on Dec. 8—the rest of the SNF schedule looks like it should be good to go.

With that in mind, here is a look at what's left of the schedule, along with a quick look at the most intriguing games.

Week	Away	Home
11	Kansas City Chiefs	Denver Broncos
12	Denver Broncos	New England Patriots
13	New York Giants	Washington Redskins
14	Atlanta Falcons	Green Bay Packers
15	Cincinnati Bengals	Pittsburgh Steelers
16	New England Patriots	Baltimore Ravens

Week 11: Kansas City Chiefs (9-0) at Denver Broncos (8-1)

This is the type of matchup for which prime-time games were invented. This game is so good it'd almost be an injustice for it not to have the widest audience available, and thankfully there's a system in place that allows that to happen.

We all know who these teams are at this point. The Chiefs are built in the same mold as seemingly every Alex Smith team of late. They run the ball beautifully, play hellacious defense and spend every waking moment hoping that Smith doesn't screw the pooch. 

It's well beyond the point that anyone can call Smith a "bust" or even a bad NFL quarterback, but the reality is that he's perfected the checkdown game; he's the king of getting seven yards on a 3rd-and-10. But he's also perfected the always underrated quality of not giving the ball to the other team. No team in the NFL has a better turnover ratio than the Chiefs' plus-15, and that's in large part thanks to their NFL-low eight giveaways.

Of course, the calling card for the Chiefs is their defense, specifically their pass rush, which comes into Week 11 leading the NFL with 36 sacks. 

Dontari Poe, Justin Houston and Co.'s ability to get to Peyton Manning may be the overarching factor that decides this contest. Manning has been dealing with a bothersome ankle injury throughout much of the regular season, issues that were aggravated in last week's win over the Chargers. So much of Manning's effectiveness comes from his ability to avoid pressure with his mind rather than his feet, but there's a difference between being immobile and being a statue essentially acting as a tackling dummy.

One could theorize that the Broncos will emphasize the run more to mitigate the possible damage Manning would take, but that would be a poor assumption. The Broncos will run whatever the Kansas City defense is willing to give them for better or for worse.

Either way, this is a matchup against the type of defense that has long given Manning trouble at a time when he's at his most vulnerable. OK, OK, you convinced me. I'll watch.

Week 12: Denver Broncos (8-1) at New England Patriots (7-2)

Peyton Manning? Against Tom Brady? Again? It's almost like they have a decade-long rivalry that interests people or something.

The yearly battle between these two men is a staple of the NFL schedule that dates back to a time when the two teams still shared a division. In the days before realignment and four divisions in each conference. To the days where Vince Lombard...OK, they're not that old.

But for a generation of football fans, the Brady-Manning rivalry and debate is every bit as heated as Elway-Marino or Staubach-Bradshaw. In terms of win-loss record, the Patriots signal-caller holds a distinct advantage. He's 9-4 against his rival, bests him three Super Bowl rings to one and even currently holds the passing-touchdown record Manning is chasing this season.

What Brady doesn't hold is a distinct advantage in 2013. With Rob Gronkowski and Danny Amendola missing extended periods due to injury, Brady's been dealing with a receiving corps bereft of talent and has been unable to prop them up. He comes into this week with career lows in quarterback rating (82.7) and completion percentage (57.1) and is on pace for his lowest touchdown total since his first year as a starter. Football Outsiders' DYAR metric ranks Brady as the 20th-best quarterback in football, or just barely more than one-tenth as valuable as Manning.

Luckily, things are starting to come together at a perfect time. Gronkowski and Amendola are back in the lineup and approaching 100 percent health, and Brady responded two weeks ago with a four-touchdown outing in New England's 55-31 win over the Steelers. It was the first time all season Brady had thrown for more than two touchdowns in a game. 

Couple that with Aqib Talib developing into one of the league's best cover corners and the Patriots defense proving ever-resourceful despite mounting injuries, and Bill Belichick's squad might be rounding into form late in the season rather than peaking early. All of this should make for an interesting contest, especially with the Broncos heading into back-to-back marquee contests.

Week 15: Cincinnati Bengals (6-4) at Pittsburgh Steelers (3-6)

Are we sure the Steelers are out of the playoff hunt? I mean, we will be by the time it comes for the NFL to decide whether or not to flex the contest for something more interesting. But as the Week 11 slate plays itself out, the AFC North certainly seems like a division that looks far more competitive than expected.

Two weeks ago, the Bengals were 6-2 and angling for a possible first-round bye in the playoffs. They dispatched of the pre-Rodgers injury Packers, the Patriots and Lions in their hot start, as Andy Dalton suddenly looked a heck of a lot like a franchise-caliber quarterback. 

Things have only caromed off a cliff since then. Dalton has regressed into the worst version of himself, a checkdown, turnover-prone machine of mediocrity at best and putridity at worst. After running through the first eight weeks with 16 touchdowns against only seven interceptions, Dalton had thrown six over Cincinnati's last two losses alone.

Meanwhile, the Steelers have slowly returned to decency despite rumors swirling about Ben Roethlisberger's future with the franchise. After digging themselves an 0-4 hole, they've quietly won three of their last five games heading into Week 11 and were only two games out of the AFC North lead in the loss column.

With the Browns and Ravens both sitting around with five losses, there is a very real potential for 8-8 to wind up being good enough for a home playoff game. Should Cincinnati's struggles continue and Pittsburgh take care of business against Baltimore and Cleveland in the next two weeks, suddenly that game could have a whole lot of meaning.

If not, Panthers-Jets looks like an awfully good game ready and willing to be flexed into that spot. Either way, as always is the case, Sunday Night Football stays winning.

Follow Tyler Conway on Twitter: