NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” was eyeballing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Broncos game Dec. 2 as a potential matchup the network wanted to flex from its originally scheduled 2:05 p.m. MST kickoff to 6:30 p.m.

In the end, no changes were made. NBC prime time will be stuck with the dud game between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles.

The Cowboys are 5-5, and the Eagles (3-7) are a laughingstock. The Broncos are 7-3 with five consecutive victories and in control of the AFC West, while Tampa Bay has one of the more attractive, young, surprising teams in the NFL. The Bucs are 6-4 and have four consecutive victories.

Josh Freeman, Doug Martin and Vincent Jackson at Sports Authority Field at Mile High would have been more attractive to a national audience than Nick Foles, Jeremy Maclin and the possibility of Bryce Brown at Cowboys Stadium.

But here was the Broncos’ problem with the flex: After their Sunday (Dec. 2) game against Tampa Bay, which now stays with its 2:05 p.m. MST kickoff, Denver plays four days later in a Thursday night game at Oakland. To take away 4½ hours of recovery and preparation time would have put the Broncos further away from peak performance.

Apparently, NBC and the NFL agreed that the flex schedule cannot put one team at a competitive disadvantage. Besides, the Broncos already have played four prime-time games, and the Oakland game will be five. There’s a great chance they will be playing in prime time in January. And Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning isn’t exactly underexposed.

The national audience will get plenty of Broncos before this season is through.

Slaton tryout. The Broncos worked out former Houston Texans running back Steve Slaton on Tuesday morning. As of Tuesday evening, the Broncos had not yet signed the former West Virginia star.

Slaton had a terrific rookie season for the Texans in 2008, rushing for 1,282 yards and catching 50 passes. But he had fumble and durability issues in his next two seasons, and last year he split time with the Texans and Miami Dolphins, playing in six games combined and gaining 84 yards on 24 attempts.

The Broncos are considering signing Slaton after their starting tailback, Willis McGahee, suffered a right knee injury Sunday. A torn medial collateral ligament will sideline him for six to eight weeks.

Even if the Broncos do sign Slaton, they are expected to use a tailback committee of Lance Ball, Ronnie Hillman and Knowshon Moreno for their game Sunday against the Chiefs at Kansas City.