FINS-JETS COULD SLIDE TO LATE AFTERNOON

Although the incredibly significant Week Seventeen game between the Dolphins and the Jets (which could feature the Patriots needing their nemeses from New York to win in order for New England to get to the postseason) won’t be moved to prime time, there’s still a good chance it will be moved to 4:15 p.m. EST. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told us tonight via e-mail that some games will be moved to the late afternoon start, and that the decisions will be made and announced on Monday. According to the 2008 NFL Record & Fact Book, Week Seventeen is a “national weekend” for both CBS and FOX, which means that the two networks carrying Sunday afternoon games will broadcast doubleheaders in most markets. Currently, Seattle at Arizona (yuck) and Washington at San Fran (double yuck) are scheduled to begin on FOX at 4:15 p.m. EST; Denver and San Diego had been slated to start at the same time on CBS, before moving to 8:15 p.m. EST. So it appears that Fins-Jets is a sure thing to make the move on CBS. There’s also a chance that Cowboys-Eagles could make the move to a late start on FOX as well. UPDATE: A reader points out that, as things currently stand, the Giants and Jets will be playing at the same time (1:00 p.m. EST); this means that one of the games is certain to be moved to 4:15 p.m. EST.