Giants and Cowboys have to play a 1 p.m. game in December for the first time since 2005

For the first time in 12 years, the Cowboys and Giants will play a 1 p.m. game in December. The NFL has flexed the Week 14 matchup between these NFC East rivals to 1 p.m. ET, making way for the Seahawks and Jaguars to face off at 4:25 p.m. ET.

The implications are bigger than just the schedule change. It may impact ratings:

This year hasn’t gone the way the Cowboys expected. Dallas came into this season with lofty expectations after last year’s 13-3 finish. Now they’re 5-6 and fresh off lopsided losses to the Falcons, Eagles, and Chargers. They’ve been outscored 92-22 over that skid.

The Giants were a playoff team last year, and now they’re 2-9, with their only wins coming over the struggling Broncos and the slumping Chiefs.

The first time these teams met this season was Week 1, and Dallas locked up a 19-3 win. Since then, the Giants have lost Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall to injuries. They’re ranked next to last in the NFL for scoring with only 15.6 points per game.

Dallas hasn’t gotten better, either. A pass rush that looked dominant early in the season has regressed. Dallas has 28 sacks on the season, good for 14th in league, but the Cowboys have landed only one sack in their last three games.

Dallas is missing star running back Ezekiel Elliott as he serves his six-game suspension for domestic violence allegations made against him in 2016. And injuries to linebacker Sean Lee, left tackle Tyron Smith, and right guard Zack Martin have hurt Dallas on both sides of the ball.

These certainly aren’t last year’s Cowboys and Giants, so it’s easy to see why the league would flex a Giants vs. Cowboys game to the 1 p.m. slate. But it’s been a long time since that’s happened in December.