Expert Analysis
11/28/24
5 min read
Giants-Cowboys Thanksgiving Game Proves Why Protecting NFL QBs Is So Important
Most people think the NFL has gone way overboard with roughing the passer penalties.
Some people, primarily season ticket holders but other fans who attend single games, have a strong disdain for flex scheduling.
Exhibit A for the NFL’s logic for each: Tommy Devito (or Drew Lock if DeVito can’t play) and the New York Giants vs. Cooper Rush and the Dallas Cowboys in the marquee late afternoon Thanksgiving window.
First, a few caveats.
The game might be fantastic, and I will likely watch all of it regardless because I love football. To me, it is must-see reality television. In this game, you have not only two quarterbacks who are playing for their football future every time they take the field but also two head coaches who are on scalding hot seats and desperately need to find a way to go on a winning streak.
They need to try to salvage their job or potentially get another head job at some point. I’m rooting for a 38-35 thriller and sincerely hope that happens.
Secondly, this is one of the biggest football-watching windows of the entire season because it is an inherently American tradition. The game will likely have big ratings no matter who plays quarterback or what the teams' records are. Whether people are watching intently or it is just playing in the background, the game is likely to do big numbers.
That is fortunate for the NFL. If it wasn’t a family tradition and people were choosing whether or not to tune in like is so often the case in the other standalone games, this would be a bad match-up no matter how big the Giants’ media market is or how valuable the Cowboys’ brand may be.
It’s still a match-up between two teams well below .500 trotting their backup quarterbacks onto the field. In other words, the exact type of game the NFL tries to avoid being shown to everyone in the country.
It’s the exact reason the NFL has flex scheduling and protects starting quarterbacks like they do.
The Penalties Are Worth It
Let’s start with the quarterback health part. Yes, Dak Prescott apparently tore his hamstring against the Falcons while throwing the ball instead of any type of contact with an opponent.
That’s not the point. The point is that the NFL has gone out of its way to make the game safer for quarterbacks with a litany of roughing-the-passer provisions, like driving a quarterback into the ground with your weight to any contact to the head or neck area or even moves that could tangentially affect the quarterback, like the horse collar or hip drop tackles.
Simply, back-up quarterbacks, particularly bad back-up quarterbacks, are bad for business, and the NFL knows it. Notably, it doesn’t feel like there have been nearly as many egregious roughing the passer penalties this year as in recent years, which is encouraging but perhaps just fortunate to this point.
The NFL knows that backup quarterbacks lead to worse ratings, and thus it will do everything it can to protect the starters, who are, in large part, the stars and most well-known players on their team.
While many people don’t like it, and I believe that roughing the passer should be reviewable so that the outcome is not determined by an overly cautious official, many people also don’t like watching backup and/or bad quarterback play.
Flexing Games Will Continue
That’s why the NFL has the power to flex so many of these late-season contests to try to put as many games that people are interested in, with teams in contention and star quarterbacks on the field, into the standalone primetime windows as possible.
Last week, the NFL announced the first ever Thursday night flex for Week 16 with the Broncos and Chargers, two teams firmly in playoff position right now, replacing the Bengals and Browns, two teams much on the outside looking in.
There are a lot of logistics involved in moving games from Thursday to Sunday and vice versa, especially for people who may have already booked flights and hotel rooms for those games, and the NFL recognizes that, which is why they have to give 28 days notice for any potential Thursday night flexes. It’s still a major inconvenience for any fans directly involved in any of these games.
Right or wrong, it’s worth it. The television audience is much larger and brings in a lot more revenue than the fans paying for tickets, and the NFL would rather inconvenience a few than bore the masses.
Money talks, and if the NFL wants to keep getting big rights fees from the Amazon and Netflix of the world, it needs to deliver compelling games that command big ratings.
So do your best to stomach the Giants and Cowboys on Thursday while stuffing said stomach with turkey and the fixings. You won’t have to watch many more like it. The NFL is trying to make sure of it.
