The NFL will not flex Eagles-Commanders out of Sunday Night Football in Week 8. Pro Football Talk and Yahoo Sports reported that the league "strongly considered" replacing it with Browns-Steelers. Bleeding Green Nation's Brandon Lee Gowton wrote that the Eagles' road game at Washington stays in prime time despite earlier reporting that a flex was in play. A post on r/nfl credited Tornoe with the same account: the league seriously weighed moving Browns-Steelers into the slot, and that game stays at 1 p.m. EST.

The outlets agree on the substance. The one difference is in the wording. Bleeding Green Nation says the league "gave thought to" the swap, while PFT and Yahoo say it "strongly considered" it. None of the feeds says why the NFL decided to keep the game, so we won't guess at a reason.

On the numbers, the alternative looks stronger than the game that stayed. The Browns and Steelers are both 4-2, and Cleveland leads the AFC North. Cleveland beat Pittsburgh 27-24 on Thursday, Oct. 1. The Browns then lost 17-12 at the Jets, and in their last game they beat Baltimore 13-10 at home. The Steelers have won two straight: 34-22 over Indianapolis, then 26-19 at Tampa Bay on Oct. 18.

The game that stays is between two struggling teams. The Commanders are 1-4 and last in the NFC East. They lost 23-17 at San Francisco on Monday, tied the Giants 27-27 on Oct. 11, and lost 30-13 to Indianapolis before that. Philadelphia is 2-4 and has lost four straight, which matches the Eagles' own form. They scored 7 against Chicago, then lost 24-20 to the Rams, 19-17 at Jacksonville and 25-14 to Carolina at home. Over their last six games they average 17.7 points and allow 22.8. Their two wins this season are 24-22 over Washington in Week 1 and 24-20 at Tennessee.

The division table explains what the prime-time slot is worth. At 2-4, the Eagles are only 1.5 games behind first-place New York, which is 3-2. Washington is two games back. That gives the rematch some weight in the NFC East race, even though neither team has played well lately.

Before that, both teams have a game to play. Pittsburgh visits New Orleans on Sunday, Oct. 25, and Cleveland visits Tennessee the same day. Washington's next game is the Eagles on Nov. 1. Browns-Steelers stays at 1 p.m. EST.