Bucs’ Week 13 home game against Panthers flexed to later kickoff

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Week 13 home matchup against the Carolina Panthers will have a later start time, the National Football League announced last week.

On Tuesday, the NFL announced that it “flexed” two games in Week 13, both Sunday afternoon contests. Instead of the matchup between the NFC South foes kicking off at 1 p.m., the game on Dec. 3 will now begin at 4:05 p.m.

The other Week 13 matchup that was flexed was the Houston Texans home game against the Denver Broncos. Kickoff was switched in the opposite direction, moving it from 4:05 p.m. to 1 p.m.

This is the second time this season that the Buccaneers have had a game flexed to a later kickoff. Their Week 6 matchup against the Detroit Lions, which featured a pair of first-place teams at the time, was moved from 1 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.

While this will be the first matchup between the Bucs and Panthers this year, their second matchup, on Jan. 7, will also require some in-season scheduling information as the league has not yet set a time for the game.