For as long as I can remember, there’s been Thursday football. For years, it only happened once a season, on the big US November holiday, and the games were always hosted by Detroit and Dallas. Knowing what a physically demanding sport football is, I always felt bad for the teams that had to play a game on Sunday, only to play again four days later.
Regular Thursday Night Football has been around in some form for just over ten years now. From what I understand, many players hate playing Thursday games. Who could blame them? Professional football is a brutal game. Just this past Sunday, I saw part of a feature during the Sunday night telecast on Cowboys’ TE Jason Witten. I wasn’t really paying close attention, but one of the details that I seized upon was when Witten was describing a day of treatment that he went through to keep himself healthy enough to survive the rigours of the season. On this particular day, Witten would subject himself to a variety of therapies over the course of seven hours. All of this, just to keep himself physically able to play one game a week. Imagine how his body must feel today as he prepares to play on only four days’ rest, instead of the usual seven.
There’s money to be made, however, and the league won’t give it up easily. Big money: TV contracts, advertising, sales of special (and hideous) “color rush” jerseys worn on Thursday Night telecasts. The billionaire owners really need that extra infusion of profit, player health and safety be damned.
It’ll probably never happen, unless the players take a stand, but the NFL should eliminate Thursday football completely. That would be something for which players could truly be thankful.
Week Twelve
Thursday
Minnesota at Detroit
In a league full of pretenders, Minnesota looks like the real deal. The Vikings’ talented and well-coached defence should be able to keep Detroit’s one-dimensional offence under wraps. Winner: Minnesota
LAC at Dallas
As bad as Thursday games are, it seems particularly cruel for the Cowboys today, having played just this past Sunday night. With Sean Lee (injured) and Ezekiel Elliot (asshole) unavailable, and Tyron Smith questionable, Dak Prescott facing a tough pass rush, and the Chargers playing well, things look pretty grim for the home team. Winner: LAC
NYG at Washington
As banged-up as Washington is, they still managed to give the Saints a scare on Sunday. Winner: Washington
Regular Thursday Night Football has been around in some form for just over ten years now. From what I understand, many players hate playing Thursday games. Who could blame them? Professional football is a brutal game. Just this past Sunday, I saw part of a feature during the Sunday night telecast on Cowboys’ TE Jason Witten. I wasn’t really paying close attention, but one of the details that I seized upon was when Witten was describing a day of treatment that he went through to keep himself healthy enough to survive the rigours of the season. On this particular day, Witten would subject himself to a variety of therapies over the course of seven hours. All of this, just to keep himself physically able to play one game a week. Imagine how his body must feel today as he prepares to play on only four days’ rest, instead of the usual seven.
There’s money to be made, however, and the league won’t give it up easily. Big money: TV contracts, advertising, sales of special (and hideous) “color rush” jerseys worn on Thursday Night telecasts. The billionaire owners really need that extra infusion of profit, player health and safety be damned.
It’ll probably never happen, unless the players take a stand, but the NFL should eliminate Thursday football completely. That would be something for which players could truly be thankful.
Week Twelve
Thursday
Minnesota at Detroit
In a league full of pretenders, Minnesota looks like the real deal. The Vikings’ talented and well-coached defence should be able to keep Detroit’s one-dimensional offence under wraps. Winner: Minnesota
LAC at Dallas
As bad as Thursday games are, it seems particularly cruel for the Cowboys today, having played just this past Sunday night. With Sean Lee (injured) and Ezekiel Elliot (asshole) unavailable, and Tyron Smith questionable, Dak Prescott facing a tough pass rush, and the Chargers playing well, things look pretty grim for the home team. Winner: LAC
NYG at Washington
As banged-up as Washington is, they still managed to give the Saints a scare on Sunday. Winner: Washington
RSS Feed
