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Roger Goodell defends quality of ‘Thursday Night Football’ games

NFL gambling, Roger Goodell
Courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski, USA Today Sports

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell appeared on The Heard with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio Wednesday. The interview discussed a variety of topics, including a perceived rift between Goodell and the New England Patriots over the entire Deflategate scandal.

Though, there’s most definitely something else we can take out of this interview. In discussing the NFL schedule, primarily mid-week games, Goodell defended the quality of play we have seen on Thursday nights.

That’s most definitely a questionable stance to take. In fact, one has to wonder if this is somehow an alternative fact.

With every NFL team being given a Thursday Night Football game on its schedule, the overall quality we have seen has not been up to snuff. It’s been an ongoing issue between the league and the fans they are tasked with entertaining.

Not including Thanksgiving, of the 15 Thursday Night Football games that aired this past season, a total of 13 consisteted of at least one team that finished the year under .500. Of those 13, six consisted of at least one team that finished in last place.

The whole idea of nationally televised weekly games has been to give viewers the ability to watch the best of the best play. That simply hasn’t been the case in recent seasons. And in reality, viewership itself has been impacted by this.

Goodell might want to spin the perception to fit his specific narrative, but it simply isn’t what we in the real world would call facts.

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