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NEW YORK, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- The Philadelphia-at-Dallas game that will decide the NFC East champion has been moved to a Sunday night start time, the NFL said Monday. Only two -- Seattle and Carolina -- of the six NFC playoff teams have been determined with the year's final regular-season game to complete the picture.
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The NFL announced that the Philadelphia-Dallas game in Arlington, Texas, would begin at 7:30 p.m. EST Sunday, after all of the other teams have wrapped up regular-season play. The Eagles-Cowboys winner will be the NFC East representative in the playoffs.
It is the third consecutive year that the Cowboys will appear in the final game of the regular season. They lost to the New York Giants and Washington in those contests the last two seasons.
The NFL also adjusted the start time for the Green Bay-at-Chicago game to 4:25 p.m. That contest will determine the NFC North title.
Also moved to late Sunday afternoon starts were the Buffalo-at-New England and Tampa Bay-at-New Orleans games. The Patriots, already AFC East champions, have a shot at the No. 1-overall AFC seeding. New Orleans is battling for a wild-card spot in the NFC.
The AFC has just one playoff spot undetermined as Denver, New England, Cincinnati and Indianapolis have wrapped up division titles and the Kansas City Chiefs have claimed one of the two wild-card slots. The other will go to Miami, Baltimore, San Diego or Pittsburgh.
With Seattle and Carolina in the playoffs, other NFC teams with a chance to advance are Philadelphia, Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco, Arizona, Dallas and Green Bay.
