Tag: prime time

The Saints have now lost 6 consecutive prime-time home games

The New Orleans Saints haven’t won a prime-time game inside the Superdome since Drew Brees was the quarterback, and Caesars wasn’t yet on the building:

The New Orleans Saints fall to the Denver Broncos 33-10. The Sean Payton revenge game goes to the Saints former head coach. New Orleans was reportedly ready for the return of Payton. They surely didn’t look like it. The Broncos were the better team on both sides of the ball, and they of course had the better coach between Payton and Dennis Allen. Both teams had their ugly moments, but things never got better for the Saints.

New Orleans fell to 2-5 on the season after a 2-0 start. This is their fifth consecutive loss this season and their sixth consecutive loss inside the Caesars Superdome in prime- time over the last four years:

  • 2024: Loss to Denver Broncos, 33-10
  • 2023: Loss to Jacksonville Jaguars, 31-24
  • 2022: Loss to Baltimore Ravens,  27-13
  • 2021: Loss to Miami Dolphins, 20-3
  • 2021: Loss to Dallas Cowboys: 27-17
  • 2021: Loss to Buffalo Bills, 31-6

The same issues that were shown in previous games continued to show their ugly heads on Thursday Night. The defensive line provided no pass rush and couldn’t stop the run. Their offensive line couldn’t protect the quarterback or block for the run.

They haven’t won a prime-time  home game since Drew Brees was their quarterback. The last time it happened, it was still called the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Saints haven’t been good on prime time at all recently, but the struggles at home are especially disappointing. Something has to give if they’re going to get different results.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5]

Alontae Taylor views MNF vs. Chiefs as redemption game

The last time he played in prime time, Alontae Taylor was benched. He’s eager to prove he can play under the bright lights against the Chiefs:

The New Orleans Saints haven’t played the Kansas City Chiefs in four years. Despite having never competed against the Chiefs, Alontae Taylor looks at this game as an opportunity for redemption.

The last time Taylor played in prime time was against the Los Angeles Rams on “Thursday Night Football,” and that game left a bad taste in his mouth. Taylor was benched during that game after getting repeatedly beaten in coverage. There aren’t many people thinking about that game leading into this week’s “Monday Night Football” contest, but Taylor is on a mission to prove that struggles under the bright lights won’t be a trend.

“I don’t want anyone to look at the Rams game and say the stage was too big for Alontae,” Taylor told Erin Summers, “My last prime-time game I got benched at the end of the game against the Rams for having bad eyes, getting emotional, and for making bad decisions.”

Taylor has improved drastically since that game. He’s visibly grown more comfortable at nickel cornerback. Growing at the position may be enough for the masses, but Taylor intends to prove to himself that “the lights aren’t too big. The stage isn’t too big.”

The game against the Rams was late in the season. Taylor wants to prove these past four games aren’t a fluke. He was our pick for the Saints’ Defensive Player of the Month, and he’s looking to carry that over into October.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5]

Saints have struggled in prime-time games in the Dennis Allen era

Dennis Allen is 1-5 in night games as Saints head coach. He’s looking for Win No. 2 against Patrick Mahomes in prime time:

The New Orleans Saints haven’t been much of a national commodity since Drew Brees and Sean Payton left. That has been reflected in the amount of primetime games.

The Saints also haven’t performed well in the night games they’ve been given. Dennis Allen is still looking for his second win in prime time as the team’s head coach after going 1-5 the last two years.

To get his second win, he and Klint Kubiak will have to go through the Kansas City Chiefs. The defending Super Bowl champions feature Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and Travis Kelce on offense and Steve Spagnuolo, Nick Bolton, Chris Jones, and Trent McDuffie. The Saints have an equally difficult task on both sides.

The Saints have had impressive wins under Allen, but they typically disappoint in primetime. The only victory came against the Carolina Panthers the year they had the worst record in the NFL.

Let’s repeat that: Allen is 1-5 in night games over the last two seasons. There have been really deflating losses in that bunch. The Saints looked putrid against the Cardinals, when Allen was infamously quoted as telling Andy Dalton “to keep doing what he’s doing” despite throwing a pick-six before halftime.

Then the last time they played in prime time, the Saints set out to prove they could beat a quality team in the Los Angeles Rams. They failed miserably. The situation feels similar to now. The Saints are aiming to prove what kind of team they are. Let’s hope the outcome is different.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5]

Steelers draw 3 prime time games in 4 weeks on 2024 schedule

The Steelers have a brutal schedule in 2024.

On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL released their 2024 regular-season schedule and oh boy is it a doozy. The league has handed the Steelers a brutal slate of games and head coach Mike Tomlin’s streak of seasons without a losing record.

A huge reason this season is particularly daunting is the month of October. The NFL gave the Steelers all tricks and no treats when they put Pittsburgh on the schedule for three prime-time games in four weeks during the month. For the season, Pittsburgh has four games in prime time.

The only upside is the Steelers get all three of the games at Accrisure Stadium. Here’s how the month breaks down.

Week 5 vs the Cowboys (SNF)

Week 6 @ Las Vegas Raiders

Week 7 vs New York Jets (SNF)

Week 8 vs New York Giants (MNF)

Throwing that cross-country road trip to Las Vegas doesn’t help this stretch one bit. But the reality is, this four-game stretch isn’t as treacherous as Weeks 15-17 when the Steelers get the Philadelphia Eagles on the road, followed by the Baltimore Ravens on the road and then come home to take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day all in a span of 10 days.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Saints only receive three prime time games in 2024

The New Orleans Saints only received three prime time games in 2024. They need to prove they’re ready for the bright lights:

Are the New Orleans Saints ready for prime time? The NFL’s broadcasting partners don’t seem to think so. The Saints were given just three prime time night games on their 2024 schedule, per multiple reports.

In addition to a Thursday Night Football matchup with Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos on Oct. 17, the Saints will also get Monday Night Football showcases with the Kansas City Chiefs (Oct. 7) and Green Bay Packers (Dec. 23). Remember, Thursday night games are broadcast on Amazon Prime Video while Monday night games are carried on ESPN.

This is a far cry from the Saints’ heyday; in 2018, for example, they played five night games while drawing the coveted feature on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. But they haven’t played a Sunday night game since 2021. Losing seasons and extended playoff droughts will do that. Let’s hope the Saints can turn that perception around with a strong performance in 2024.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]

Broncos have a chance to make a statement in prime time

Over the next two weeks, the Broncos can prove to a national audience that they are playoff contenders.

The Denver Broncos won back-to-back games going into their bye, but the team is still only 3-5 coming out of the break.

Are the Broncos a true contender to get back into the playoff hunt, or were those pre-bye victories more of a fluke than a sign of things to come? We’ll find out soon enough.

Denver is set to play the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football in Week 10 followed by a Sunday Night Football showdown with the Minnesota Vikings in Week 11. The Broncos will now have a national audience looking on as they attempt to prove they are a serious team going into the second half of the season.

“I think it’s something we bring up,” coach Sean Payton said earlier this week when asked about the team playing in prime time in consecutive weeks. “The one thing we do know is if you’re significant, you begin to play on a lot of these hours and these primetime night games — Thursday night, Christmas Eve, Sunday night, Monday night. The less significant you become, your chances of — you might play one of those a year.

“For us, it’s two-fold. We’re playing good teams. Buffalo has been a perennial playoff team and right on the cusp of being in a handful of Super Bowls. [They are] a team that we have got great respect for. Sean [McDermott] has been fantastic there in what he’s done, and I think they present a huge challenge, especially in Buffalo in the month of November. … To play them on Monday night, those are great challenges. The competitor in you wants to play in front of large audiences and in important games, so these are those opportunities.”

If the Broncos win at least one of their next two games and look competitive in each contest, national pundits might start to believe Denver is capable of making a playoff push. If the Broncos are dominated by the Bills on prime time, on the other hand, the pre-bye hype will quickly fade away. Denver has talked the talk, now it’s time to back it up on the field.

Follow the Broncos Wire Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=482983128]

Broncos likely won’t be eligible for ‘Thursday Night Football’ flexing in 2023

As the schedule currently stands, the Broncos aren’t eligible to be flexed in or out of ‘Thursday Night Football’ games in 2023.

[connatix div_id=”3f8b015acdd24c648befc5d5dac47469″ player_id=”afe1e038-d3c2-49c0-922d-6511a229f69c” cid=”7cbcea0d-4ce2-4c75-9a8d-fbe02a192c24″]

Last week, NFL owners approved a one-year trial run for flexible scheduling for Thursday Night Football, with a few very significant restrictions.

Two of the restrictions are (1) the timeframe — only games from Weeks 13-17 are eligible to be flexed in or out of TNF — and (2) that no team will play more than one TNF game on the road (each team can play up to one at home and one away).

With those two caveats in mind, we already know that the Denver Broncos are not currently eligible for TNF flexing this season. The Broncos are scheduled to play in a road TNF game in Week 6. Later in the year, they play on the road from Weeks 13-15 and again in Week 18.

Because they will already have played on the road in Week 6, they won’t be eligible for another road TNF game. Denver’s two home games during the TNF flex window aren’t eligible, either. The first one is already scheduled to be a prime-time Christmas Eve showdown with the Patriots in Week 16.

The other game is a home Sunday afternoon showdown with the Chargers in Week 17. That game won’t be eligible for TNF, either, because Los Angeles is scheduled to play a road TNF game against the Raiders in Week 15, so the Chargers couldn’t play a second road TNF game in Denver.

Of course, if that LA-Las Vegas game is moved out of TNF, the Chargers would then be eligible to play the Broncos on TNF in a flexed game. Clear as mud, right?

As the schedule stands now, Denver is not currently eligible to have a game moved in or out of TNF lineup during the 2023 season. That could change, but it seems unlikely.

[vertical-gallery id=620142]

Follow the Broncos Wire Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts

Broncos have 4 prime-time games on 2023 schedule

The Broncos have four prime-time games on their 2023 schedule and two late-season games are candidates for a national spotlight as well.

[connatix div_id=”3f8b015acdd24c648befc5d5dac47469″ player_id=”afe1e038-d3c2-49c0-922d-6511a229f69c” cid=”7cbcea0d-4ce2-4c75-9a8d-fbe02a192c24″]

Following the arrival of quarterback Russell Wilson last offseason, the Denver Broncos received a lot of love from the NFL’s schedule makers.

The Broncos were given five prime-time games — Monday Night Football (twice), Sunday Night Football (twice) and Thursday Night Football — on their initial 2022 schedule, plus two more nationally-televised games (one in London and one on Christmas Day).

The national spotlight backfired as Denver’s offense was painful to watch in 2022 and late in the season, the team’s own fans were asking for the Broncos to be flexed out of primetime (they were flexed out of SNF in Week 14).

The league’s schedule makers apparently expect the team to bounce back under new coach Sean Payton in 2023. Denver has been given four prime-time games on the 2023 schedule: Week 6 at the Chiefs (TNF), Week 10 at the Bills (MNF), Week 11 vs. the Vikings (SNF) and Week 16 vs. the Patriots (SNF).

The Broncos also have opportunities for two more prime-time games — Week 15 at the Bills (Dec. 16 or 17) and Week 18 at the Raiders (Jan. 6 or 7) could be played in a nationally-televised Saturday game. The NFL will finalize those late-season games later this year.

To view the Broncos’ complete schedule for the 2023 season, click here.

Follow the Broncos Wire Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts

[vertical-gallery id=620142]

NFL gives New Orleans Saints three prime time games on 2023 schedule

The NFL gave the New Orleans Saints three prime time games on their 2023 schedule, but two of them fall on much-maligned Thursday nights:

Let’s start with the good news: the NFL released its 2023 schedule of regular season games on Thursday, and the New Orleans Saints have been awarded three slots in prime time, where they’ll be featured in nationally-broadcast contests.

And now the bad news. Two of those matchups are going to fall in the dreaded Thursday night slate, meaning at best weird vibes and at worst a terrible upset defeat. Let’s explore each matchup that’s going to kick off under the bright lights:

Broncos vs. Rams can’t be flexed out of Christmas Day spotlight

The Rams will host the Broncos on Christmas Day in a nationally-televised game on CBS.

When the NFL scheduled the Denver Broncos to face the Los Angeles Rams on Christmas Day in May, the game seemed like an intriguing matchup at the time.

The Matthew Stafford-led Rams would be defending their Super Bowl title this fall and a late-season showdown with the Russell Wilson-led Broncos could have big playoff implications for both teams. In theory. In May.

Seven months later, Stafford is injured, Wilson has been underwhelming and both teams are already eliminated from playoff contention.

Sunday’s game is locked into a nationally-televised spotlight on CBS, though, and it’s not eligible to be flexed into another window. The contest will actually be televised on two networks — Nickelodeon will also carry the game.

The Rams are a little more intriguing following the arrival of Baker Mayfield, and the Broncos have been playing a little better over the last two weeks. So it’s possible that Sunday’s showdown could end up being a decent game, but there won’t be any playoff implications on the line.

Merry Christmas, football fans.

Follow the Broncos Wire Podcast:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts

[vertical-gallery id=620142]