Is Thursday Night Football Worse Than Other NFL Games?

Is Thursday Night Football Worse Than Other NFL Games?

When watching NFL games there are many different options that viewers have. You can watch NFL games on Thursday, Sunday, and Monday on most weeks. The NFL will occasionally have games on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Let’s focus on Thursday night games. When a team plays a Sunday game, they may have to have a quick turnaround and play just four days later on Thursday. This is a very quick turnaround for NFL players and NFL coaches. It means less recovery time for the players and less preparation time for the coaches. NFL teams don’t even practice on the short week. Injury reports are estimates on if the team were to have practiced, that is how the team believes player participation would have gone. Teams may hold walkthroughs, but recovery is stressed. So why does the NFL have games on Thursday nights? Thursday night games are currently broadcasted by Amazon through Amazon Prime. Thanks, Jeff. It wasn’t always that way though. It used to be broadcasted on the NFL Network. Thursday Night Football started in 2006 as an eight-game late season package on NFL Network and expanded in 2012 to thirteen games. As many know, the NFL Network is not a free channel and had to be paid for. Earning the NFL more money and we all know how much the NFL is struggling right now. NOT. Could the NFL move Thursday night games to Friday night? Would that make a better product? Would there be more or less viewers? Overall, is Thursday Night Football worse for the NFL and NFL players?

Could moving Thursday Night Football to Friday still keep viewership up? High School Football is typically known for games on Friday nights. There is a reason we have a movie called, “Friday Night Lights.” Before streaming services, NFL fans would have to make the decision of missing their child’s game or missing the NFL game if it were to be played Friday night. Most parents would make the decision to watch their child play instead of watching the NFL game and you can’t blame the parents for choosing their child’s game. It’s the right thing to do. Now though with the benefit of having streaming services on our cell phones, we can watch the NFL game while being present for any High School games. Some people have even gone the length to bring smart tv’s to watch the game that way while watching their children play their respective sports. Showing just how dedicated people can be to their NFL team, while also being present for their kids. One specific Buffalo Bills fan comes to mind as I write this.

How does Thursday Night Football compare to the other games played on Sunday and Monday? Since 2006, the home team for Thursday Night Football wins roughly 61.4% of games. For the rest of the games, the home team wins roughly 57% of the time. A great advantage for the home team. As mentioned earlier, this is a shorter recovery time of only 4 days vs 6 to 8 days when not having to play Thursday night. Are players more likely to get injured then on Thursday Night Football if there is less time to recover? Shockingly, no. Players are actually less likely to get hurt on Thursday Night Football. On Thursday Night Football there is an average of 1.26 injuries per team per game. On all other games, that number actually goes up to 1.53 injuries per team per game. What about points? Less time to prepare means less points, right? Wrong. There is a combined average of 45 points scored on Thursday Night Football vs 44.1 combined points scored per game from 1999 to 2025.

With a short week for Thursday Night Football, players and coaches also get what is popularly referred to as the “mini-bye.” Ten days off for players to rest and teams to prepare for their next opponent. That also means a rest advantage over your opponent too. How do teams perform the game after playing Thursday Night Football? Home or away, the teams coming off Thursday Night Football win between 52% to 54% of their games. If a team played Thursday Night Football at home and then plays the following game at home, it is significantly higher than this historically. A traveling team is the one that gets the short end of the stick as far as percentages go. The coaching staff absolutely matters in this conversation as well. Elite and experienced coaching staffs are more often than not going to see higher numbers than some other staffs.

This 2026 Season has been a bit of an anomaly. This year when a team is coming off a “mini-bye,” they are a combined 9-1. The only loss being the Cleveland Browns losing to the New York Jets. If not for some blunders by the Browns, teams would most likely have a perfect record of 10-0 coming off extended rest. What does this all mean? Other than the idea of playing a game just four days after playing another game not being enough time. There is no viable reason to take away or even move Thursday Night Football other than to look like the NFL actually cares about its players. Even when taking into consideration that fans could have NFL Football on Friday, when less people would have to work or go to school the next day, college football on Saturday, then more NFL games on Sunday and Monday.