Poll: Thursday Night Games

[Prime Time]

Players don’t mind Thursday night games, if coaches give them rest
Posted by Michael David Smith on July 17, 2014

Many NFL players have spoken out against Thursday night games, saying the short week doesn’t give them enough time to recover after playing on Sunday. But the NFL Players Association says it’s a little more complicated than that.

According to NFLPA spokesman George Atallah, the key is that coaches need to give their players enough time off to recover from Sunday. When coaches take it easy at practice during a short work week, players feel ready to go on Thursday night. When coaches don’t, players don’t.

“Frankly, we don’t have a comprehensive data set yet,” Atallah told the Hollywood Reporter. “But here’s anecdotally what we’ve heard from our members: Players who have good coaches don’t mind the Thursday night games because the coaches give them enough time to rest from the Sunday games. And players who have bad coaches don’t like Thursday night games because they are not able to recover physically.”

If Atallah is right, this issue should eventually take care of itself. Coaches will learn not to push it during a short work week because they’ll see that players who have been overworked struggle on Thursday nights. Smart coaches already know that.

RG3: Players are concerned about Thursday Night Football
BY SI WIRE

Thursday Night Football is a highly sought-after television package thanks to its prime advertising airtime, but Robert Griffin III isn't sure that players feel it's the best choice for the NFL.

"There are a lot of players out there who feel like there's not enough days in the week for us to be playing on Thursdays," Griffin told the Hollywood Reporter. "It's something that the NFL is going to have to address to keep players safe while also trying to maximize revenue."

Thursday night games mean a team must make a quick turnaround after playing on Sunday, which has led to questions about whether it makes players more susceptible to injury. The NFL has said the injury rate for Thursday games is not greater than the one on Saturday, Sunday or Monday, but George Atallah of the NFL Players Association countered by saying there's no comprehensive data set yet for those numbers.

Griffin said the flip side to a quick turnaround is having extra time off after a Thursday night game, which is something a team can take advantage of.

"At the same time, when we get those games on Sunday and Thursday, then we're off for an extended period of time," he said. "Sometimes we look at it as an extra bye week."

After spending its first several years of existence on the NFL Network, Thursday Night Football will be moving to CBS this season. The station was awarded the eight-game package by the NFL after a $275 million bid.

- Jack Jorgensen​

 

[Akrasian]

My problems with Thursday night games are that the short week is likely to increase the home field advantage for the game. This can be lessened a bit by having the home team have to travel the week before, and the road team play at home - but given how hard it is to do fair schedules that introduces another complexity that will screw something up elsewhere.

And the week after the game the teams get 3 extra days off - which should give them an advantage against whomever they play. The league is intentionally kept competitively balanced - it seems unfair to throw these scheduling problems to randomly mess up teams.

But I'm spitting into the wind - Thursday night games increase TV contracts, so they are going to stay.

 

[Prime Time]

On the way home tonight I was listening to Mark Schlereth and Bill Polian discussing RG3's remarks on this subject. They concurred that playing games on Thursday night is bad because:

1) The league is pushing for player safety yet doesn't take into account what playing a game so soon after a Sunday game does to the players.

2) It's not a good product because players are fatigued and cannot give what they normally do when they're rested and the amount of practices before Thursday night games is limited.

 

[JackDRams]

I love it. Gives us football an extra day every week. The more the better. But I can understand how much it can suck for the players. Lack of rest between games, travel time, etc.

 

[A55VA6]

I love it. Gives us football an extra day every week. The more the better. But I can understand how much it can suck for the players. Lack of rest between games, travel time, etc.

Agreed!

 

[Jorgeh0605]

I love it. Gives us football an extra day every week. The more the better. But I can understand how much it can suck for the players. Lack of rest between games, travel time, etc.

But the quality of Thursday night games is lacking. I do not like them, as they more often than not look atrocious compared to their Sunday and Monday night counterparts. Game planning is an important aspect of Football that I think gets taken for granted. Cutting teams short of that doesn't benefit the product in my opinion. Throw in the issues with player fatigue and scheduling issues and it just doesn't feel like a good idea.

But like Akrasian said:

But I'm spitting into the wind - Thursday night games increase TV contracts, so they are going to stay.

 

[OC--LeftCoast]

I like it, I'd like it even better if my carrier had the NFL channel

 

[Rambition]

I like it, I'd like it even better if my carrier had the NFL channel

according to the 2nd article in rambill's post, you won't need NFL network. cbs will have the thursday night games this year.

 

[CodeMonkey]

How can you not like more football? I wouldn't mind if we added yet another day during the week to the NFL docket. With regard to scheduling, short weeks and byes are part of the deal, but there should be scheduling guidelines where you ensure some minimum days between games and try to work byes and other "off Sunday" games so it works out. Computers are pretty fast at logistical puzzles like that.

 

[Angry Ram]

They get 10 days after. It's not a big issue.

 

[Boffo97]

How can you not like more football? I wouldn't mind if we added yet another day during the week to the NFL docket. With regard to scheduling, short weeks and byes are part of the deal, but there should be scheduling guidelines where you ensure some minimum days between games and try to work byes and other "off Sunday" games so it works out. Computers are pretty fast at logistical puzzles like that.

Then you'd think they could work out a schedule where we are NOT in Seattle in Week 17 AGAIN.

...not that I'm bitter...

 

[CodeMonkey]

Then you'd think they could work out a schedule where we are NOT in Seattle in Week 17 AGAIN.

...not that I'm bitter...

You know that's not that bad really. Actually it's perfect. That is the game where we secure home-field advantage and exclude the sea chickens from the playoffs.. At their house! Can I get a hell yeah?

 

[CodeMonkey]

What about adding another bye and maybe making it 17 games? Maybe that's another thread but it's kind related in terms of logistics and more football.

 

[Debacled]

Kinda torn on this. I like more football. I also like not missing out on games that are playing the same time as the local games I get.

On the flip side its punishing for the players, even with the extra rest. They say its fine with extra time off from the coaches, but then the product suffers due to lack of preparation. More Thursday games means we will be watching more sore, hurting football players giving 100% of the 85% they have put back in the tank.

We saw really sloppy football from nearly all the teams early in the season last year. Know why? Training camp, practices, essentially time with the team were all cut way back due to the new CBA. A lot of the same will come from cutting time between games

 

[theramsruleUK]

I don't mind it to be honest, however, it does mean I have to stay up till 5am before work..

 

[CGI_Ram]

I hate it.

First; as much as I like football... there is a reason Christmas is special. Have Christmas every month? You get the point.

Second; I'd love to see a poll splitting the east and west coast. I'm on the east. I have a job. I can't watch but maybe a quarter or two of this game.

Third; It's hypocritical of the NFL and their "focus on safety".

Lastly; I wonder what the stats are for the home team win %. I'm not sure the stats back it up, but I really don't care. The NFL hasn't proven the ability to make schedules that are fair to all teams (see STL finishing in SEA for the last 10yrs).

Lastly #2; between moving the draft back into May, Thursday night games, talk of a 4-day draft... the NFL is really pissing me off with their blatant money-grabs.

 

[Rams and Gators]

I voted for both options, because I could.

 

[den-the-coach]

I'm as old school as they come, however, if you want to show a football game on Wednesday afternoon and the Rams are playing I will request the time off to watch. I don't like the short week for the players, but Robert Quinn sure seems to love Thirsty Thursday's.

 

[LazyWinker]

I love Thursday Night Football. I don't think anyone plays more than one Thursday night game. I like it because it's a reason to eat nachos, wings, pizza, etc and have a handful of beers on a weeknight. I also love Monday night football.