Richie Incognito Picked the Wrong Time to Bitch About Playing on Thursdays
“[Thursday night games] suck. They throw a wrench in our schedule. It’s absolutely ridiculous that we have to do this. As physical as this game is, as much work and preparation that goes into this, to force us to play games on four-day weeks, it’s completely unfair and bullshit. The league makes money off it, and that’s all they care about anyway.” –Richie Incognito, after getting humiliated by the Jets in prime time
Richie Incognito: The term “Tone Deaf” in human form.
Pro tip: If you want to lay out a case against Thursday Night Football, the time to do so is NOT right after being down 34-7 to the Jets before putting up two meaningless touchdowns to save a little face. A game in which:
–Your own offensive line let Tyrod Taylor get sacked seven times by a team that had 11 all season.
–You got your running backs 28 yards on the ground and the team 63 rushing yards total.
–Your team had 11 penalties.
–One of those penalties was an unsportsmanlike for screaming at the official. During a time out.
–You fumbled four times.
–Saw your rookie tight end go down without a whistle, get up, run, and get stripped of the ball.
–Worst of all, unleashed the plague that is Fireman fucking Ed upon the world again.
That is not a time for making arguments related to terrible decisions by the NFL. Anymore than the day after the election was the right time for Hillary to start bellyaching about the Electoral College. Humiliating defeats are a time for quiet reflection and platitudes about needing to work harder and get better. Not airing of grievances.
The real tragedy is that Incognito is not wrong. His point is obscured by his horrendous timing, but he’s right. Generally speaking, TNF does blow. For every Oaklan 31, Kansas City 30 masterpiece there are a half dozen borefests like Baltimore 40, Miami 0 or pitchers duels like Houston 13, Cincinnati 9. Remember a couple of years ago they gave us Jacksonville at Tennessee, and opened the broadcast with Eddie George in a theater explaining to us in Shakespearean iambic pentameter why we should watch it? You don’t need to do that when you put prime time teams in prime time, which they logistically cannot do because you can’t ask anyone to play on a four day turnaround more than once or twice a year.
I used to say I couldn’t get too much football. But 14 Thursday nighters a season have made a liar out of me. The players aren’t ready. The officials aren’t ready. The broadcasters aren’t. And clearly the Bills weren’t. But the time to bring that up is owners meetings in the offseason, not after getting your dick kicked in by the Jets. That’s loser talk. And more embarrassing for Incognito and his team than losing a dance off for an entire time out.
.
.