(Almost) a full season of Thursday Night Football

I don't know how much of it is that guarantee to get everybody on and how much of it is the real reason: the Patriots and Saints saying "no fucking way are we playing three Thursday night games in a season."

 

Unless you don't get the NFL Network, which is not availible in our area.

 

That's one of Muchnick's recurring themes. The fans of good teams get screwed, as they end up playing night games, and the 4:00PM game, instead of at 1:00PM on a Sunday.

In certain parts of the country, where the weather can change a lot once the sun goes down, that sucks. Add in traffic, getting home late, and being exhausted at work the next day, and it's no reward.

Football wise, they don't much like it either. Screws up their routine.

No way does any team want three or more prime time games.

 

It is really tough for road teams travelling any distance on the Thursday night games.

 

Glad to see this. So, I have the Super Bowl this Sunday, a two-week break. AFL season comes up on Friday nights. Then a five-day-a-week football marathon through the next Super Bowl.

Life is good.

 

Yeah. It's very taxing for professional athletes to relax on a luxury jet for (at the most) five hours. I don't know how they do it!

 

NBA teams and a lot of hockey teams travel on either team owned planes or on charter planes with all first class seating.

(When I was at Continental, Lou Lamoriello and the Devils refused to charter on us, even when we were their "Official Airline" because we couldn't offer a plane with an all first class configuration.)

With the size of their traveling party, this isn't an option for NFL teams. They charter a conventional commercial airplane -- usually a 757. The front office folks and the coaching staff usually get first class. The players end up in the back.

At their size, it can't be too comfortable.

But, the obvious issue, if they've played on the previous Sunday, is the limited time for recovery, for implementing a game plan, and for practicing.

 

Are you seriously not aware of the disadvantages a road team faces on a four-day game week?

 

No. I get that they'll probably miss a practice because of the travel, but the notion that the actual traveling affects the players is ridiculous.

 

Yeah, but just the actual travel time takes away from practice time and/or sleep.

 

I would hope they will use the bye weeks to make it so only a few are playing on a true four-day week.

 

They need to use common sense while setting these up. There should be no Thursday games where the team has to travel across the country.