Skins win and they're in!

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by sandtrapjack

Okay, I gotta grasp your argument here. Is your argument that if you play a Sunday NIGHT game, you should not be scheduled a Thursday game? Because, in truth there is only a few hours difference between that and any other team in the league playing on Sunday and the following Thursday.

Looked up an interesting stat on this. And since the NFL started regularly playing Thursday games, road teams do suffer in the short week. Road teams are 20-35 since 2006 when TNF started. There is some merit there.

But in that same time period since 2006, the home teams on Thanksgiving Day (Detroit and Dallas) are a combined 5-7.

All I know is I can't think of anyone blaming a short week on Thanksgiving day games. Every team in the NFL plays Thursday games. Even the Cowboys played TNF on the road in a short week. But they won. You play the schedule that is given to you in April. You've no control over that.

I concur that Thursday football is a sub-par product. The road team is definitely at a disadvantage. But in the many many years that the Cowboys and Redskins played on Thanksgiving on a short week, not once did I observe a complaint of a short week with travel when Washington has beaten Dallas on Thanksgiving. To the contrary, we APPLAUD coaches like Gibbs and Shannahan for the way they PREPARED their team for a short week with travel to come away with a victory.

re: the bolded statement, that's an indictment of Dallas's overall mediocrity over that period, and Detroit being an even worse team during that time. It has much more to do with the quality of the home team than it does the fact that they have homefield.

This year is obviously much different. Dallas is a very good team, it doesn't much look like the mediocre squad it's been during the period you mention.

Your point is irrelevant. The point that matters is your first one, road teams on a short week are 20-35.

They should just do away with Thursday Night Football. Gotta keep the Thanksgiving day games with Dallas and Detroit - I'm big on tradition. But they should face teams that had a 1pm home game the week before.

[sandtrapjack]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

re: the bolded statement, that's an indictment of Dallas's overall mediocrity over that period,

But in that same time span Washington is 5-9 against Dallas in regular season games. Looks like 'mediocrity' goes both ways.

Originally Posted by Schneed10

They should just do away with Thursday Night Football. Gotta keep the Thanksgiving day games with Dallas and Detroit - I'm big on tradition. But they should face teams that had a 1pm home game the week before.

I will drink to that on point 1. I have always thought the quality of the product the NFL puts on the field on Thursday Nights is deplorable and should be scraped entirely. Keep Thanksgiving day games.

I'll agree to disagree on point 2. Sunday game is a Sunday game and day or night does not matter. Look at it this way, the NFL has never taken into account West Coast teams traveling to the East Coast for a 1 PM start time. There is a clear advantage to the home team there as well. And that too is a matter of record.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by sandtrapjack

But in that same time span Washington is 5-9 against Dallas in regular season games. Looks like 'mediocrity' goes both ways.

Without a doubt, Washington was probably worse than Dallas during that period, overall. But they also didn't face off every year on Thanksgiving. My point was not to denigrate your team, it was to point out that your logic regarding Thanksgiving games was goofy. Just because Dallas and Detroit combined to go 5-7 during that stretch on Thanksgiving, that does not mean road teams are not at a severe disadvantage on a short week. They are at a big disadvantage, hence 20-35. The reason Dallas and Detroit combined to go 5-7 during that stretch is simply because they weren't very good.

Originally Posted by sandtrapjack

I'll agree to disagree on point 2. Sunday game is a Sunday game and day or night does not matter. Look at it this way, the NFL has never taken into account West Coast teams traveling to the East Coast for a 1 PM start time. There is a clear advantage to the home team there as well. And that too is a matter of record.

You're probably right about that. I've seen no data indicating that teams who play at 8pm on Sunday night and then play a road game on Thursday are even worse than 20-35. So I can't say the fact that it's a night game makes a difference.

Still, it'd be a very easy thing for the NFL to fix. So easy that it makes arguing about it kind of silly. You could just swap the primetime game for another compelling matchup. Takes two seconds and there'd be no ratings or revenue impact on the league.