monday night football-thursday night football Dec 24, 2017; New Orleans, LA, USA; Atlanta Falcons running back Tevin Coleman (26) stiff arms New Orleans Saints defensive tackle John Hughes (92) during the third quarter at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Saints defeated the Falcons 23-13. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL’s schedule was unveiled on Thursday and — surprise! — TV executives are publicly thrilled with the slate of games on their networks. Fox Sports president Eric Shanks told Sports Business Journal that he is excited about the “greatly improved” Thursday Night Football schedule, while ESPN’s Burke Magnus told The Athletic that he likes his network’s Monday Night Football package “from top to bottom.”

Those dueling comments got us thinking, which set of games is actually better? If allowed to watch only one of the two packages for the duration of the season (leaving Sunday Night Football out of it), which would an average fan go for? As we go week by week, note that we’re not predicting which game is the better ratings draw (which is, of course, dictated in part by market size) but rather which will be more appealing to watch. Here we go.

Week One

MNF: Jets at Lions, Rams at Raiders

TNF: Falcons at Eagles

ESPN has one dud of a matchup and one pretty strong one, but neither game can compete with the previous two NFC champions squaring off to begin the season.

Edge: Thursday Night Football

Week Two

(Photo by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images)

MNF: Seahawks at Bears

TNF: Ravens at Bengals

None of these four teams made the playoffs last year, so neither game will be a must-watch, but tiebreaker goes to the network that isn’t airing the Bears.

Edge: Thursday Night Football

Week Three

MNF: Steelers at Buccaneers

TNF: Jets at Browns

The less said about that Jets-Browns game, the better.

Edge: Monday Night Football

Week Four

(Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

MNF: Chiefs at Broncos

TNF: Vikings at Rams

Chiefs-Broncos isn’t bad, but Vikings-Rams could be one of the more compelling games this season.

Edge: Thursday Night Football

Week Five

MNF: Redskins at Saints

TNF: Colts at Patriots

Colts-Patriots was once a great rivalry. Now it’s a flavorless matchup of one of the NFL’s best teams and one of its worst.

Edge: Monday Night Football

Week Six

Photo Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

MNF: 49ers at Packers

TNF: Eagles at Giants

Of these two rivalry(ish) games, we’ll take the one in which both teams are competent.

Edge: Monday Night Football

Week Seven

MNF: Giants at Falcons

TNF: Broncos at Cardinals

Another close call, but the nod again goes to the game less likely to be a blowout.

Edge: Thursday Night Football

Week Eight

(Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)

MNF: Patriots at Bills

TNF: Dolphins at Texans

Tom Brady vs. (possibly) a hotshot rookie quarterback could be fun.

Edge: Monday Night Football

Week Nine

MNF: Titans at Cowboys

TNF: Raiders at 49ers

When it doubt, America’s team.

Edge: Monday Night Football

Week 10

MNF: Giants at 49ers

TNF: Panthers at Steelers

We’ve picked against the Giants twice, might as well make it three times.

Edge: Thursday Night Football

Week 11

(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

MNF: Chiefs at Rams

TNF: Packers at Seahawks

Russell Wilson vs. Aaron Rodgers makes this an easy pick.

Edge: Thursday Night Football

Week 12

MNF: Titans at Texans

TNF: Falcons at Saints

Both games could have playoff implications, but the NFC South matchup has more star-power.

Edge: Thursday Night Football

Week 13

Photo Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

MNF: Redskins at Eagles

TNF: Saints at Cowboys

Fox gets another nod, thanks to two of the NFC’s best teams.

Edge: Thursday Night Football

Week 14

MNF: Vikings at Seahawks

TNF: Jaguars at Titans

The Jaguars are fun but not quite fun enough.

Edge: Monday Night Football

Week 15

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Photo Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

MNF: Saints at Panthers

TNF: Chargers at Chiefs

No wrong answer here, but slight edge to ESPN.

Edge: Monday Night Football

Week 16

MNF: Broncos at Raiders

TNF: None

MNF claims a final victory by default

Edge: Monday Night Football

(Rodger Mallison/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT via Getty Images)

Final tally: Thursday Night Football – 8, Monday Night Football – 8.

We didn’t plan it that way, we swear.

For what it’s worth, if forced to pick between the two slates, we’d probably go with Thursday Night Football, which has arguably the four best games between the two packages, in Falcons-Eagles, Vikings-Rams, Saints-Cowboys and Saints-Falcons. But you can probably argue either way.

Luckily, however, we live in a world where you don’t have to choose between competing football packages and can simply watch all the games you want. America!

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.