Jon Gruden calls for the NFL to get rid of Thursday Night Football games

by: Daniel Hager 8 hours ago DanielHagerOn3

Oct 4, 2021; Inglewood, California, USA; Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden looks on as his players warm up before a game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Since 2006, Thursday Night Football has been a staple of the National Football League. It serves as a bit of an appetizer for the Sunday slate, Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football . However, former NFL head coach Jon Gruden is calling for TNF to come to an end.

This plea comes after last Thursday night’s game between the Denver Broncos and the Las Vegas Raiders. Denver came out on top 10-7 to improve to 8-2 on the season in a game that featured just 408 total yards and one touchdown. The game was knotted at seven at the break, and a field goal from Bronco kicker Wil Lutz near the end of the third quarter was the deciding score.

Due to team’s not having a full week to prepare, Gruden said that forcing players and coaches to participate in these games is ‘not fair’.

“No preparation, no time to recover, no chance. Get rid of these Thursday night games! Dump them! It’s not fair to the players, it’s not fair to the coaches.” – Jon Gruden pic.twitter.com/6gvPxiz5A2

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 10, 2025

“Let’s start with Thursday Night Football man,” Gruden said. “What a treat it is. No preparation, no time to recover, no chance. Get rid of these Thursday night games. Dump them! It’s not fair to the players, it’s not fair to the coaches. Who goes out and tries to perform at a high level with no preparation? Dump these games.”

This season, just four of 10 Thursday Night Football games have been one-possession games. The weekly game has grown a bad reputation for years now due to poor performance and lack of entertainment, but TNF shows no signs of stopping as Amazon Prime pays approximately $1 billion a year for the rights.

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