Monday Night Football

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 3:53 am

The NFL really needs to do a better job with their Monday Night Football schedule. First off, what idiot decided it was a good idea to give Jacksonville TWO (!!) home Monday night games? Secondly, some of these matchups are just terrible. Upcoming doozies include St. Louis at Seattle, San Diego at Kansas City, Kansas City at New England and San Diego at Jacksonville. I can't imagine a lot of interest in any of those games. Finally, the Super Bowl Champions and only undefeated team, gets only ONE appearance -- against the lowly Vikings, no less. How did the NFL allow this to happen?

Big thumbs down to Monday Night Football this year.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 3:57 am

I agree Glenn though I will say next week's San Diego-Kansas City game has first-place implications in the AFC West so at least there's that.

But the quality of games put on MNF has really declined without a doubt. It was obvious to everyone before the season the Vikings were going to stink. They had no business being on MNF. Same with the Jags - yeah, they got a huge upset last night but they aren't a good team and same with Seattle. What genius thought any of those teams were going to be any good this season? There's not much you can do about the Colts or even the Rams, who a lot of people thought would take a step forward this season. But some of these teams were easy to see in terms of lack of talent and had no business being put on Primetime.

But you're exactly right, MNF deserves a big thumbs down and so does the NFL for scheduling so many clear dogs to be put on Primetime.

Diesel · Post by **Diesel** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:05 am

Kansas City will beat the Chargers AND the Patriots...Both in front of a National audience. Other than that, I agree really bad job all around this year in the NFL.

King of Queens · Post by **King of Queens** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:10 am

Just took another look at the entire schedule:

Only one appearance by 2010 playoff teams:

Indianapolis (10/3)
New York Jets (10/17)
Baltimore (10/24)
Philadelphia (11/7)
Green Bay (11/14)
Seattle (12/12)
Pittsburgh (12/19)
Atlanta (12/26)

Two appearances by non-playoff teams:

Dolphins (9/12, 10/17)
Rams (9/19, 12/12)
Jaguars (10/24, 12/5)
San Diego (10/31, 12/5)

I realize that some of the previous year's playoff teams from last year also need to appear on Thursday and Sunday night telecasts. Still, this watering-down of what was once the "Big Game" of the week is more than a little disheartening.

[ October 25, 2011, 10:19 AM: Message edited by: King of Queens ]

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:21 am

Here are the games that have been on MNF so far and the games I would have scheduled before the season began. I'm throwing out Week 1 since they had two games that night and the more football the merrier for me.

Week 2
Giants-Rams/Chargers-Patriots

Week 3
Redskins-Cowboys/Packers-Bears

Week 4
Colts-Bucs/No way to know Peyton would be hurt this bad and Freeman would regress as much as he has

Week 5
Bears-Lions/I'm fine with this one for the Stafford-Cutler matchup but if I got Packers-Bears in Week 4 then I would've gone Jets-Patriots

Week 6
Jets-Dolphins/Saints-Bucs or Texans-Ravens

Week 7
Ravens-Jags/Jets-Chargers

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:58 am

Originally posted by Tom Kessenich:
It was obvious to everyone before the season the Vikings were going to stink. They had no business being on MNF. Hey, ABC just thought Brett Favre would make another comeback this year, that's all.

Favre at Lambeau Part III would have made for good TV in primetime, don't you think?

texasducks69 · Post by **texasducks69** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 5:00 am

What you have to remember is MNF is no longer the crown jewel of the NFL broadcast packages.

When NBC won the Sunday night package, they were also awarded the premium games along with flex scheduling. MNF was given the old sunday night package. That is the biggest reason Al Michaels Jumped from MNF to SNF.

The biggest packages the NFL has are still the Sunday afternoon one's thatFOX and CBS hold the rights for. There is no way the NFL can command the dollars from FOX and CBS if the two premier games every week go to NBC and ESPN.

MNF and Thursday night will continue to be the NFL's version of the MLB all star game where everybody gets to be represented.

KenGill · Post by **KenGill** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 5:58 am

Agree -- the games, even a lot of the ones on Sunday nights, have been bad matchups --- of course the decline of the Colts was something that the NFL didn't see coming when they made up the schedule. Last night's game was one of the worst I can remember -- no first downs by Baltimore until the 3rd quarter....BORING

BillyWaz · Post by **BillyWaz** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:58 am

Originally posted by The Yellow Line is Unofficial:
What you have to remember is MNF is no longer the crown jewel of the NFL broadcast packages.

When NBC won the Sunday night package, they were also awarded the premium games along with flex scheduling. MNF was given the old sunday night package. That is the biggest reason Al Michaels Jumped from MNF to SNF.

The biggest packages the NFL has are still the Sunday afternoon one's thatFOX and CBS hold the rights for. There is no way the NFL can command the dollars from FOX and CBS if the two premier games every week go to NBC and ESPN.

MNF and Thursday night will continue to be the NFL's version of the MLB all star game where everybody gets to be represented. Very true John.

Still disappointing that it is the ONLY game on, and the last of the week......it should be "on paper" be a marquis matchup.

Then again, I know that the Buffalo Bills didn't HOST a MNF game for years (can't remember how many) because the percent of people who showed up for work the next morning in the Buffalo metro area was less than 50%!!

So maybe these teams have some say on whether they play on MNF. I would of died to see the Bills last night over that debacle that rivaled a jv football game last night! :rolleyes:

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 8:04 am

There's no question that one of the issues here is you have four networks who all want the best games possible each week. Satisfying all of them isn't easy. That said, it shouldn't be difficult to avoid putting clearly bad teams on MNF when you're setting up the schedule. If Roger Goodell doesn't believe that's the case he can hire me and I'll get the job done for him. I'll work cheap too.