While the NFL ultimately didn’t pass a vote to flex Thursday Night Football games, the league did the next worst thing: add another potential TNF matchup for good teams later in the season.
News of possibly playing in two Thursday night games didn’t align well with superstars like Patrick Mahomes. San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle is the latest to chime in on the developments, and he took it a step further.
In an appearance on This Past Weekend, Kittle reacted to the Thursday pro football expansion by describing the painful process it takes for him to sometimes just one play game. The star’s “multiple car accidents” comparison to suiting up and taking NFL punishment makes the league’s priorities to have another week with limited recovery time seem very silly:
Here’s the key part of Kittle’s quote:
“I’m in multiple car accidents every Sunday … I’ve had games where I hyper-extended my knee, that’s gonna affect your season. Or you burst a bursa sac in your knee. That’s going to be there for several weeks. And if you get lucky, you don’t have to deal with that stuff. It’s a little bit better, but you’re still getting into these car accidents. Really, now how I see it is, if I’m not doing football, I’m doing recovery.”
From recovery to football. No in-between. Flexing Thursday games would’ve been awful for players and a dramatic step forward in diminishing player safety. It doesn’t seem like the de facto consolation — playing more Thursday games — will be any better.