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
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
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
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
MNF: Patriots at Bills
TNF: Dolphins at Texans
Tom Brady vs. (possibly) a hotshot rookie quarterback could be fun.
Edge: Monday Night Football
The latest
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
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
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
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
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.