The Seattle Seahawks beat the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football, but did they really win?
Seattle lost Richard Sherman for the year to an achilles injury, and number of other players appeared to be banged up in a game played on short rest. In fact, the win was so upsetting that Doug Baldwin said Thursday Night football should be “illegal.” And not just because of the electric green uniforms Seattle was forced to wear.
Doug Baldwin: "Thursday night football should be illegal." #Seahawks pic.twitter.com/bBdKDqKzSV
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) November 10, 2017
Baldwin’s other quotes were just as brutal about the contest.
Doug Baldwin limped through whole game w quad pull pregame. Playing 2nd gm in 4 days, Sherman, 6 other #Seahawks injured: "This shit is not OK. You can quote me on that. It HAS to change"
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) November 10, 2017
Among the Seahawks’ injuries was Kam Chancellor, who left the field on a cart.
Kam Chancellor left the field on a cart
— Adam Stites (@AdamStites_) November 10, 2017
The Cardinals themselves lost three players to injury on Thursday that coach Bruce Arians admitted are likely headed to IR. But Sherman’s loss is incalculable for a defense that unquestionably leads this Seahawks team and is in a tough division race with the Los Angeles Rams.
It’s the second week in a row that Thursday Night Football has been criticized by players. Buffalo Bills guard Richie Incognito bashed the concept last Thursday after the Bills got whomped by the New York Jets.
“These Thursday night games, they suck,” Incognito told reporters after the game. “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 bullsh*t. The league makes money off it, and that’s all they care about anyway.”
Both complaints may come off as sour grapes — Incognito’s because of a bad loss and Baldwin’s because of the bad loss of a good player — but the comments highlight what’s often been the storyline of Thursday Night Football. Rather than talk about good games, we’re often stuck discussing teams that didn’t look ready to play and how the major injuries a team suffered will impact their season.
Basically, if the Pittsburgh Steelers somehow lose Antonio Brown next week, just cancel Thursday Night Football like the bad weeknight drama it’s turned out to be. It won’t be missed.
