Thursday Night Football sported two of the top teams in the AFC in the Bengals and Ravens, but what transpired on the field was a lot of injuries to key players, which Boomer says is crippling the product.
“With 18 penalties called last night, Mark Andrews going down…Joe Burrow with a wrist injury, OBJ got hurt late in this game…I still think the product on Thursday night is not great,” Boomer said. “I’m trying to be honest here. I love football, I understand why they have Thursday Night Football. I understand they’re trying to grow the brand…but the Thursday night product is just not great.
“I’m wondering, with an extra few days, he would have been much better served if he had a few extra days of rest instead of playing on Thursday? There has to be some way to be able to spread these games out so guys don’t have to play on a short week.”
Boomer understands the money involved in the primetime game, but he also understands that there is a problem with the product. Last season, late-season games pitting bad teams against each other led to the league tweaking its rules to be able to flex games out of Thursday night, but now, games with two premier teams seem to be having an issue in quality. Boomer says it has to be a concern for the league.
“With 18 penalties and all these guys getting hurt,” Boomer said. “Somebody’s gotta do something about it.”