The Saints game against the Cowboys on Sunday, Dec. 10 has been switched to a prime time contest, the NFL announced Monday.

The move will be third such schedule change for the Saints under the league's new 'flex' policy that allows more significant games late in the season to be moved to national telecast. The league also allows the network that loses those games to move another contest into the original time slot.

The Saints game against Dallas will be played on Sunday night at around 7:15 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally.

The Saints game with New York on Christmas Eve has also been moved to a 3 p.m. kickoff, as was an earlier contest with Pittsburgh.

The moves recognize the Saints emergence as a serious contender for post season. They are also a part of the league's plan to prevent having the networks decide their matchups early in the season and then get stuck with less important games as top teams fail to live up to their billing.