The Existential Horror of Thursday Night Football

Amazon and the N.F.L. tried to spice up this year’s Thursday night lineup by spotlighting “story line” quarterbacks: Russell Wilson and Matt Ryan leading their new teams in Week 5, the multitalented youngster Justin Fields versus the downright Shakespearean Carson Wentz in Week 6, and so forth. That programming tactic backfired, however, as none of those quarterbacks have lived up to their billing.

The league’s Friday news cycle has therefore become a weekly referendum on unfulfilled expectations, which would not happen if Wilson and the others were merely disappointing local fans during regional Sunday telecasts.

Ultimately, spotlighting one ordinary matchup from the weekly N.F.L. schedule is like isolating a sickly wildebeest from the herd: Skeptical fans approach the game poised to attack, and spend the day after picking over its carcass. One football game, presented in isolation and without Brady or Patrick Mahomes in the opening credits, just isn’t as interesting as the league wants it to be.

Yet no matter how unentertaining the games, fans still tune in: “Thursday Night Football” averaged 11.26 million viewers per game through Week 5. For contrast, the top-rated Thursday network program “Young Sheldon” drew 6.9 million viewers on Oct. 13, while Game 1 of an American League division series between the Yankees and Cleveland Guardians on Oct. 11, a Tuesday, drew 5.35 million viewers. A society that would rather watch Wentz than Aaron Judge by a 2-to-1 margin ends up getting precisely what it deserves.

In one sense, “Thursday Night Football” serves as the N.F.L.’s version of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” — a chance to ironically celebrate the absurd while throwing toast at the league’s bombastic image. In another sense, however, the horror is more genuine and existential.

Millions of fans have conditioned ourselves to gorge upon dissatisfying sports entertainment, grouse bitterly about the experience, then voluntarily pry our eyeballs open with toothpicks the next week for more. Perhaps if the games finally reach a tipping point of putrescence, we’ll break the soul-crushing cycle and escape the waking nightmare of inveterate N.F.L. obsession.

Programming note: The Saints backup quarterback, Andy Dalton, was also listed on the early-week injury report, meaning that a third-string gadget specialist, Taysom Hill, may get the start. That sounds rather fun. So let’s do the Time Warp again.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/19/sports/football/thursday-night-football-nfl.html