Fox's obsession with the NFC East

the506.com does an amazing job each week of meticulously looking at TV guides across the country to figure out which NFL games will be aired in which locations across the nation on Sunday mornings, afternoons, and evenings.

When I saw this most recent map for Week 11, I was appalled.

Detroit at Arizona is not only the game of the week, it is the game of the year, featuring the top two teams in the NFL. It is a shame and an embarrassment that it gets covered up by Philadelphia at Green Bay, which is not a shabby game, mind you, as New York at Seattle was, but has no right to cover up Detroit at Arizona. Fox appears to be obsessed with in general placing NFC East games in higher priority positions, and especially with giving Troy Aikman NFC East games. I say "Troy Aikman" rather than including Joe Buck and Erin Andrews as well since they are replaced with Thom Brennaman and Charissa Thompson during the MLB postseason. Troy Aikman has commentated an NFC East game every week this season with the two exceptions of Arizona at Denver and Detroit/Arizona. Detroit/Arizona being in London, Fox had no choice. So in only one out of 10 weeks so far with a choice has Fox placed Troy Aikman on a non-NFC East game.

Let's take a look at these games and whether they were the "game of the week" or whether Fox simply placed Troy Aikman on these games due to NFC Eastness.

Week 1: San Francisco at Dallas. Correct decision. No better game on Fox.

Week 2: Dallas at Tennessee. ONLY because of the NFC East. Seattle at San Diego was on Fox in Week 2. Read here

Week 3: Washington at Philadelphia. ONLY because of the NFC East. Green Bay at Detroit and San Francisco at Arizona were on Fox in Week 3. Read here

Week 4: Philadelphia at San Francisco. Correct decision. No better game on Fox.

Week 5: Arizona at Denver. Correct decision, but this wasn't NFC East anyway.

Week 6: Dallas at Seattle. Correct decision. No better game on Fox.

Week 7: New York at Dallas. Correct decision. No better game on Fox.

Week 8: Detroit/Atlanta. London game. Troy Aikman was going there regardless of how good the teams were at this point in the season.

Week 9: Arizona at Dallas. Correct decision. No better game on Fox.

Week 10: New York at Seattle. ONLY because of the NFC East. St. Louis at Arizona was another 4:25 game, and San Francisco at New Orleans was also an option if Fox would consider placing Troy Aikman on a 1:00 game even on doubleheader week.

Week 11: Philadelphia at Green Bay. ONLY because of the NFC East. While Philadelphia at Green Bay is game of the week caliber in any other week, Detroit at Arizona is between the top two teams in the country. This is the NFL equivalent of LSU at Alabama 2011 not being nationally broadcast.

Week 12: Fortunately, Fox isn't airing any NFC East games. The Cowboys and Giants are playing on NBC, and the Redskins and Eagles are playing on CBS. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will call either Detroit at New England or Arizona at Seattle, and I'm sure it'll be based on how those four teams (who all have tough Week 11 games) do this week. Either way, I'm sure it'll be the correct decision.

So as we can see, it's only in 4 of the 10 weeks that Fox has actually made the decision based on prioritizing the NFC East over the game of the week, HOWEVER this is almost half the weeks and is unacceptable.

Let's now look at when Fox has the doubleheader, and which 1:00 game is prioritized.
Week 1: New Orleans at Atlanta. Correct decision.
Week 4: Green Bay at Chicago. Correct decision.
Week 6: Green Bay at Miami. Correct decision.
Week 7: Carolina at Green Bay. Correct decision.
Week 10: San Francisco at New Orleans. Correct decision, and I am so happy Fox didn't show Dallas/Jacksonville with the London excuse.
Week 11: This is the first time we see Fox prioritizing an NFC East game not called by Troy Aikman. Seattle at Kansas City should be the #1 1:00 game not San Francisco at New York! Classic NFC East bias.

Overall, by analyzing the season as a whole instead of just thinking about recent happenings, the problem is not as prevalent as I thought, but it is still clearly present in Fox's selections of announcers and how much of the country is going to get certain games.