This is a simple message to NFL owners: This reported idea about flexing Thursday Night Football games late in the season? Vote against it.
Because maybe then you’ll prove you’re actually thinking about player safety and concerns.
Let’s rewind for a minute. Sports Business Journal reported this on Friday: “Owners will be asked at next week’s league meetings to approve a flex scheduling plan for late-season Thursday games, sources said. The vote also would relax limits on the number of games each team can play on short rest each season.”
The details? Sunday games between contenders could be moved to Thursdays in Weeks 14 to 17, with 15 days’ worth of notice. That would also increase the number of Thursday games teams can play, which has been exactly one for a while.
That number should be zero, but to increase it beyond one? And late in the season? For a team contending? Are you kidding me?
We’ve been hearing from players for years that playing on Thursdays, just four days after a game on Sundays, is the worst. Coaches have weighed in and said the same. It’s not enough time to prepare for a contest, but way more importantly, it’s not enough time for recovery. So it can open up players to further injury if they’re not fully recovered, and while we’re at it: Players injured before then might not play Thursday night anyway if they haven’t gotten that full week to recover.
Wouldn't that change the script??
ALL Thursday Night Football games should be played:
1. Coming off a Bye week (11 days rest)
2. Play the following Sunday (10 days rest)That's a legit break for teams to not to put their players in danger on short rest! https://t.co/QJpZzs6u9R
— The Athletic Mentality (@TheAMSportsTalk) March 24, 2023
So: Amazon Prime’s late-season schedule gets more eyeballs. The NFL makes a broadcasting partner happy. The players, as usual, get jobbed. But I’d like to weigh in as a viewer and say, it isn’t necessary!
Fans will tune in for anything NFL. Even the worst game on the schedule will be watched by the teams’ fan bases and then you’ve got the betting and fantasy football crowd. And aren’t you messing with fans who have purchased tickets for these games and made plans for that Sunday?
I can’t imagine any contending team would be happy with getting flexed so late in the season, when the pain and fatigue is so set in. What if one of these teams gets blown out that night and misses the playoffs?
Vote no on this one, owners. Or …
The #NFL wants to flex the TNF games.
Can we just flex them off the schedule all together?#BillsMafia #NFLTwitter
— Dave Myers (@DM3BIB) March 24, 2023
