Well that didn’t last long (and the Week 2 NFL TV Schedule)

Four plays. That’s all Aaron Rodgers got before this play ended in him injuring his Achilles tendon. Season over. Just like that, all the hype toward the New York Jets went down the toilet. As for how the rest of the game went, I’d rather not talk about it.

It always sucks when a team’s star player goes down to a season-ending injury. Especially when its that player’s first year with a team. And Aaron Rodgers is no spring chicken. He will be 40 before the end of the season. Now will he be back? Almost certainly. Will he be as good? Eh, who knows. Also, for all the sad Jets fans, how much more can you take? I’m a big Bills fan and I have taken a bunch of huge helpings of bullshit over the years. They are a frustrating team to be a fan of for sure. But I don’t think they can hold a candle to what the Jets have done, especially in the last couple of decades. Maybe they will surprise everyone and still be competing for a playoff spot come late December. Stranger things have happened.

OK enough of that since I don’t feel like even thinking about that game…ugh. Here is the NFL TV sked for us Canucks.

American Networks

Las Vegas at Buffalo	1:00	Seattle, Spokane, Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington, Boston, Presque Isle
Kansas City at Jacksonville	1:00	Minneapolis, Detroit
Baltimore at Cincinnati	1:00	Cleveland
Seattle at Detroit	1:00		Tacoma, Seattle, Spokane, Detroit
Green Bay at Atlanta	1:00		Minneapolis, Burlington, Presque Isle
NY Giants at Arizona	4:05		Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown, Burlington
NY Jets at Dallas	4:25	All affiliates

Canadian Networks

Las Vegas at Buffalo	1:00	Saskatchewan, Toronto, Montreal, Atlantic	Vancouver Island, Alberta
Kansas City at Jacksonville	1:00	Winnipeg, Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Ottawa
Seattle at Detroit	1:00	Vancouver, Alberta	London, Toronto, Ottawa
Green Bay at Atlanta	1:00		Atlantic	TSN1, TSN4
Baltimore at Cincinnati	1:00			TSN+
NY Giants at Arizona	4:05			TSN1, TSN4
NY Jets at Dallas	4:25	All affiliates

Primetime Games

Minnesota at Philadelphia	Thursday, 8:15, Amazon Prime, CTV2, TSN 1/3/4/5/+
Miami at New England	8:20, NBC, CTV, TSN 1/4/5*
New Orleans at Carolina	Monday, 7:15, TSN 1/3
Cleveland at Pittsburgh	Monday, 8:15, ABC, CTV2, TSN 3*/4/5

Injury-less Notes

• I mean I hope I don’t tear my quadriceps muscle or anything like that typing up this blog post. That would be brutal.
• You will see some asterisks in the schedule. On Sunday night, TSN5 will get to Miami-NE around 11:00 (so sometime in the fourth quarter) after an MLS game. On Monday night, TSN3 will go to the Browns-Steelers game in progress after being done with the Saints-Panthers game. Wait….does that mean……
• Yes, two Monday nighters! I am still not totally sold on this idea but at least they aren’t doing it one after another. That felt disastrous and I never watched the entirety of the second game. This will be interesting and I have a feeling this is what the NFL wants going forward, especially if they plan to expand in the next decade since they really can’t have fifteen or sixteen games during Sunday afternoon since some games will get almost no coverage (and some have that issue already).
• Games not being shown here in Canada (unless you have the Zone of Reds):
  • LA Chargers at Tennessee
  • Washington at Denver
  • Chicago at Tampa Bay
  • Indianapolis at Houston
  • San Francisco at LA Rams
• Now do you see why they are doing stuff like putting two games on Monday night? It never used to be (at least for the past decade) that you would have five games that can’t be seen up here two weeks in a row. Sure it would happen a few times a season but this sounds like it will be the norm. Which is fine for people who have Sunday Ticket or RedZone. If not, you might miss one of your team’s games. No, there aren’t many Colts fans up in this neck of the woods but I assure you there are still quite a few Niners fans scattered around Canada.
• Again, TSN+ gets a game that isn’t being shown anywhere else. Smart. That’s the kind of small thing that people like.
• I am sure CBS execs are not pleased that Rodgers went down since most of the States and Canada get the Jets and Dallas this Sunday afternoon. Ouch. And the Jets have a lot of national games going forward so if they struggle, watch for a lot of games to be flexed out. Not great for ticket holders so just have to be watchful about scheduling changes.

There you go. The schedule…it is complete. Like A-A-Rod’s season. Hi-Yo! OK that was mean. I honestly hate to see anyone lose their season to a bad injury. If they fuck up and do something illegal? Then they can lose their season, that’s fine by me. Enjoy the rest of your week and enjoy the games starting tonight!

It’s the dawn of a new era – Week 2 NFL TV Schedule

Thursday Night Football goes to FOX!  Well, kind of.  It’s actually on the NFL Network but they are using the FOX lead broadcast team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman (who everyone loves right OK let’s move on).  Yes I know this happened last night so let’s see some of the scorching hot takes that came out of FOX replacing CBS for TNF:

• “Omg do we really have to listen to Joe Buck. Fucking kill me”
• “You may need to brush up on your Spanish. I saw a lot of people were getting that feed during the game. I wasn’t so lucky and had to listen to Joe Buck the entire game.”
• “the only debate about the #NFL should be….who’s more annoying? Chris Berman or Joe Buck and Troy Aikman?”
• “Joe Buck sucks.. my god. Imagine having no emotion during big moments and TDs and just slightly raising your voice describing a play. Thanks Joe.”

Alright so it’s no different than people complaining when Joe calls a Sunday afternoon game.  Or a Sunday 1:00 game.  Or any game.  In any sport.  Look, I get it.  Joe Buck has been pushed to the moon by FOX and when that happens people tend to sharpen their pitchforks (in a social media sense).  Do I think Joe Buck does a good job with calling football?  I guess he’s OK.  Nothing special.  There are much better NFL announcers and WAY better college football announcers than him but that is just my take.  I think he is one of the best to call baseball.  I also think he gets a bit of a bum rap when he is in the booth for the USGA golf events (although he is no Jim Nantz).  Honestly, unless the announcer is atrocious, I don’t care since I am watching football.  And I like football.  The announcing is meant to be an addition to the event, not the event itself.  It could be worse though.  It could have been Allen Bestwick.  God that guy was fucking awful at calling a football game.

Alright enough of last night’s tomfoolery; on to the NFL TV sked for Canucks this week which will definitely not include all the games that are actually being played this Sunday:

Sunday Early

Kansas City at Pittsburgh	Seattle, Spokane, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Boston		Northern Ontario		Vancouver Island, Alberta, London, Toronto, Atlantic
Miami at NY Jets	Burlington			TSN3, TSN5
Houston at Tennessee
Indianapolis at Washington
LA Chargers at Buffalo	Buffalo, Rochester		Kitchener, Toronto
Minnesota at Green Bay		Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Minneapolis, Burlington, Boston	Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal, Atlantic
Philadelphia at Tampa Bay
Cleveland at New Orleans
Carolina at Atlanta

Sunday Late

New England at Jacksonville	All affiliates (except Spokane)		Northern Ontario, Kitchener, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal		Atlantic
Oakland at Denver	Spokane		Vancouver, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg
Detroit at San Francisco		Detroit		TSN3, TSN5
Arizona at LA Rams		Buffalo, Rochester

Sunday/Monday Primetime

NY Giants at Dallas	Sunday, 8:30, NBC, TSN 1/3/4/5, CTV Two
Seattle at Chicago	Monday, 7:00, TSN 1/4/5

Notes on the Canuck-Specific Schedule

• OK it’s only four games that no one can get up here without Sunday Ticket.  That’s honestly not too bad with a full schedule.  And they are all in the early timeslot which is a bit different.
• Patriots-Jags get a ton of eyeballs for their late game.  I read somewhere that this game will reach more people than almost any other regular season Jags game in history.  That’s pretty crazy.
• Buffalo having an early game on CBS means the Buffalo area can only get a FOX game in the late timeslot.  That’s why you see the oddity of the Cardinals-Rams in Buffalo and Rochester which would normally make no sense whatsoever.
• Chiefs-Steelers and Vikings-Packers are splitting the early game TV audiences for the most part with a few other games getting coverage here and there.  Interesting that only TSN3 and TSN5 are getting Sunday afternoon games.
• Things will start to get interesting once October hits and the CFL is in the home stretch of their regular season.  Usually at least one game goes to Sunday the rest of the season so we shall see how that affects TSN’s coverage of the NFL.  My guess is they will go back to showing only games on TSN2 for a couple of months.

UPDATE: The rare NFL update.  And it’s totally my fault.  Reader PG noticed I had a bunch of CTV networks showing Carolina-Atlanta.  They are not.  No one is.

There you go.  Schedule complete.  So far it has been a pretty good start to the season.  One of the better starts in recent memory.  This is important for the NFL since they really can’t wait until American Thanksgiving to start getting a ton of people to watch anymore.  Having no major issues early on in the season will help but I am sure that will not happen and something major will hit and everyone will have to discuss it for days.  Anyway, enjoy the games and enjoy your weekend.