Following the weekend of NFL Wild Card Round action, Dan Le Batard came away disappointed with the slate of games, but he identified the finish of the Sunday Night Football matchup as a “palate cleanser.” The Washington Commanders earned their first playoff victory in 19 years with a game-winning field goal in the final seconds of the fourth quarter to eliminate the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The conversation on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz emanated from agitation Billy Gil had towards NFL Network regarding the programming schedule on Sunday opposite the Wild Card round games.
Gil explained that NFL Network was airing previous matchups of playoff teams at the same time other media networks were presenting the live action. For example, while the Philadelphia Eagles were facing the Green Bay Packers, NFL Network was airing a replay of a previous game between the Commanders and Buccaneers. The schedule caused Gil to become confused and led him to wonder if he had looked at the schedule incorrectly.
“I kept going back to the NFL Network at the wrong times because they were playing games between when the teams previously played at the times that the current teams are going on, and I wonder how many people didn’t see in the little corner that it said, ‘2023,’ or, ‘2024,’ and watched the wrong games thinking they were watching the right playoff game because they were at a bar and just someone [was like], ‘Oh, put on the game,’ and they put on the wrong game,” Gil surmised. “Because NFL Network spent the entire day playing games opposite the present games – they were just old and wrong games between the same teams.”
Jessica Smetana remarked that she wished to have been watching the 2009 Steelers-Ravens playoff game, and Jon “Stugotz” Weiner concurred, articulating that it would be significantly more entertaining. Mike Ryan believes that Sunday night’s Commanders-Buccaneers game was the most competitive and was confused why there were not as many points scored commensurate to box score statistics. In response to this ostensible disparity, Smetana conveyed that fans need to reset their expectations of football games and understand that not every game will be close.
“You say this, but because of what the sport gives us in the ‘Witching Hour’ every week, even if it’s Jacksonville-Carolina, I’ve come to expect that all the games are going to be close,” Le Batard said. “I’m surprised by the blowouts because every time I’m watching football on Sunday, they give me eight games and they sort of distort it. They fool me because four or five of them are amazing.”
Smetana explained that Le Batard is experiencing selection bias and that the same thing can take place into college football. Fans may remember a game that went into six overtimes while forgetting that there were 45 other games that ended with 21-point differentials. Le Batard postulated that this is indicative of a larger phenomenon among consumers of live sports programming.
“I think though that one of the things that’s absolutely happening to the consumer as this thing continues to get larger and larger is it wasn’t enough football for me this weekend,” Le Batard said. “Watching one game at a time is not enough for me. If that game’s a blowout – like the 4:00 window – this is how spoiled we are. When that 4:00 window has three games and two of them aren’t close, I’m bored because I need the stimulation.”
Smetana disagreed that one football game at a time being not enough was a general consensus among everyone else, outlining that Championship weekend is her favorite time in the NFL season. Ryan added that the upcoming weekend will be good as well with four playoff games in the divisional round.
This past weekend included action within college football and the NFL, beginning with the Capital One Orange Bowl and Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. There were two NFL playoff games on Saturday, three on Sunday and one more taking place on Monday night. Greg Cote emphasized that NFL RedZone is “a misnamed network” since it showcases plays that take place outside of the 20-yard range, even though he admitted it was a good thing.
“I want to slip into the rhythm of a game,” Cote said. “I want to see every play, even the bad plays, I want to see a guy take a knee, I want to see a timeout, I want to see a motion penalty – I want all the minutiae of a game, not just the highlights.”
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