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The sick joke on America that is Thursday Night Football

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by LongTimeListener, Oct 2, 2014.

  1. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    It must end.

    The scores of the four CBS games this season (excluding the opening night game on NBC, as that one did not involve teams playing on short rest):

    Baltimore 26, Pittsburgh 6
    Atlanta 56, Tampa Bay 14
    N.Y. Giants 41, Washington 14
    (so far) Green Bay 42, Minnesota 7

    That's four games with an average victory margin of (so far) 31 points. And these are not mismatches on paper. We know from other results that none of those losers is that bad. (OK Washington is bad, but New York isn't that much better.)

    We need this in prime time?

    Bodies aren't ready. Game plans aren't ready. Hell, even fans aren't ready, based on the crowd noise or lack thereof. And it's only going to get worse as the season goes on.

    Tonight is a perfect example. Teddy Bridgewater was a game-day decision because of his sprained ankle. Given that, there's a strong likelihood that he would have been able to play Sunday. Instead, the Vikings have to go with their third-stringer. Think about how many times we see a guy who can't practice Wednesday or Thursday but is healed up enough to play Sunday -- I would wager that there is a significant injury absence in every Thursday game that would not be the case for a Sunday game.

    Remember how rare a 35-0 halftime lead is? We've now seen it twice in four Thursday games. In the 57 other games played in the NFL this season, only one other game has been even a 30-point blowout at halftime (Indy 30-0 over Jacksonville).

    Forget about player health, because we know the NFL doesn't care about that. Just think of the product.

    The NFL is making $275 million for this. That's $8.6 million per team. That's nothing.

    It's horrible. It can't be worth the money. Make it stop.
     
  2. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    Most NFL fans look at Thursday games like they do bad pizza or bad sex. Even when it's bad, it's still pretty good.
     
  3. Mr. Sunshine

    Mr. Sunshine Well-Known Member

    Better than baseball.
     
  4. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    What's truly crazy is that the next lead change on Thursday Night Football, will be the first for CBS and the second since early in the second quarter during week one.
     
  5. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    Wrong.
     
  6. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    CBS is going so deep into the binders to fill out this broadcast. Execs' newborns, Favre, Simms coaching rankings...
     
  7. 3_Octave_Fart

    3_Octave_Fart Well-Known Member

    A few very easily made modifications with the byes would help make these more watchable.
    The games are worse now than the year they began doing this, in 06.
     
  8. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    Been saying it for years. It's an easy fix.

    Add a week to the season. Teams get a second bye that consists of they don't play the previous Sunday when they play a Thursday game since every team plays a Thursday game. Get an extra week of TV money (prorate the contracts). An extra week of league (alleged) positive publicity. Your Thursday product improves dramatically, thus your contract for Thursday games goes up dramatically.
     
  9. kleeda

    kleeda Active Member

    Maybe the NFL will just die. That would be awesome.
     
  10. 3_Octave_Fart

    3_Octave_Fart Well-Known Member

    In due time.
    I expect football to be litigated out of the society by the time I am an old man.
     
  11. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    Worth noting the Pac-12 TV deals requires teams playing a game during the week to have a bye the week before.

    Got to think this is karma again bitchslapping Goodell, on top of all the DV problems. All the talk about an 18-game schedule. Games on Fridays (which should be kept holy for high schools) and Saturdays. Games in London and elsewhere. And, as I said on the Rice thread, the worst sin: Wanting the Pro Bowl to be competitive.
     
  12. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    The Northern states, maybe. The South will succeed again before some judge takes away their football. I'm only half kidding.
     
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