Thursday Night Football is under fire again, this time from running back Arian Foster. Foster, whose Houston Texans turn around on three days' rest to face the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday, lashed out at the weekly game while speaking with the Houston Chronicle, calling it hypocritical and dangerous in a time when player safety concerns have become so scrutinized.
Arian Foster rips ‘Thursday Night Football’ as hypocritical
The outspoken running back claims the league is jeopardizing the health of its players by forcing them to play on short rest.
Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
“[The NFL] emphasizes concussions when they start getting hit with lawsuits and they care about the players’ safety but Thursday Night Football is putting every player on the football field in danger,” Foster said on Monday.
Foster added that players around the league find the Thursday night games “annoying.”
“I don’t know a player that likes it,” Foster said. “I really don’t know a fan that likes it, either. I think it’s just the league’s way of trying to generate more revenue.”
The theory that injuries increase on short rest makes logical sense, but a 2013 study by the NFL found that the injury rate on Thursdays (5.2 per game) is almost identical to that of Sundays (5.3 per game).
What can’t be argued is that the entertainment factor has been lacking in Thursday-night games this season. After making a big deal about moving the game to CBS and selecting better matchups, not one of the five Thursday-night final scores has been closer than 20 points, with the average margin of victory standing at 28.8.
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