The TV sports listings for the weekend before Christmas starts on the football field as NFL Network televises a Saturday evening game with playoff implications as the New England Patriots face off against the Indianapolis Colts.
The Las Vegas Raiders-Cleveland Browns game scheduled for Saturday has been moved to Monday due to a significant amount of COVID-19 infections among Browns players, according to the NFL. An increase in COVID-19 infections among league players has also forced the move of Sunday's The Washington Football Team-Philadelphia Eagles game and the Seattle Seahawks-Los Angeles Rams contest to Tuesday, according to the league.
On Sunday night, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the New Orleans Saints in NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast.
College football bowl season begins in earnest this weekend as the first of more than 40 bowl games launch on Saturday. ESPN will televise the Boca Raton Bowl (Western Kentucky-Appalachian St.), New Mexico Bowl (UTEP-Fresno State), Lending Tree Bowl (E. Michigan-Liberty) and New Orleans Bowl (Louisiana-Marshall.) ABC will air the Independence Bowl (UAB-BYU) and LA Bowl (Utah State-Oregon St.)
Several NCAA top ten-rated college basketball teams will also be in action this week. On Saturday top-ranked Baylor travels to play Oregon on ESPN2, while third-ranked Purdue will face Butler on Fox. Fifth-ranked Gonzaga will take on 25th-ranked Texas Tech on CBS and sixth-ranked Alabama meets JSU on the SEC Network.
In the ring, Showtime will distribute a pay-per-view boxing match between YouTube star Jake Paul and former MMA fighter Tyron Woodley. The fight is a rematch of their August 2021 PPV fight won by Paul via a split decision.
