The Commissioner wanted late-season Thursday night flexing. He instead got the ability to schedule teams twice for Sunday to Thursday turnarounds.
In the first season of this new power, the league used it only three times — against the Steelers, the Bears, and the Saints.
Each will play twice on Thursday after playing on Sunday. The Jets also land on Amazon twice, but one of their games is on a Friday not a Thursday.
The Steelers are the only team to play a pair of Thursday night home games in 2023.
Factoring in Thanksgiving, the Lions, Packers, Commanders, and 49ers also have two short-week, Sunday-to-Thursday games.
Four teams avoided a short-week assignment entirely — the Colts, Texans, Falcons, and Cardinals.
Here’s the full schedule for Amazon’s season season of streaming:
Week Two: Vikings at Eagles.
Week Three: Giants at 49ers.
Week Four: Lions at Packers.
Week Five: Bears at Commanders.
Week Six: Broncos at Chiefs.
Week Seven: Jaguars at Saints.
Week Eight: Buccaneers and Bills.
Week Nine: Titans at Steelers.
Week 10: Panthers at Bears.
Week 11: Bengals at Ravens.
Week 12: Dolphins at Jets (Friday).
Week 13: Seahawks at Cowboys.
Week 14: Patriots at Steelers.
Week 15: Chargers at Raiders.
Week 16: Saints at Rams.
Week 17: Jets at Browns.
It’s good but not great. For as much as the NFL seemed to be intent on stacking the Amazon slate — in order to boost the streaming audience — the NFL didn’t go as hog wild as it could have, exempting the Chiefs, Cowboys, Bengals, Bills, Packers, and Patriots from a second short-week game.
Technically, Amazon could have gotten another Jets game, since one of the two does not entail a Sunday-Thursday turnaround.