Week 2 of the NFL season marks the debut of Amazon Prime Video as the new home of “Thursday Night Football.”
In previous years, when NBC, CBS and Fox had the package, it was simulcast on NFL Network. This time, the package is exclusive to Prime Video. I’m not sure how many NFL fans know that. And I’m wondering if fans will pay the $9.95 per month to watch the games. This is a big risk for the NFL.
I also wonder why Al Michaels left NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” to be the play-by-play announcer for Prime Video. Yeah, I know, it’s probably the money. But Prime Video will never televise a Super Bowl. And, if you recall, Michaels didn’t want to call “Monday Night Football” when that package moved from ABC to ESPN in 2006. Very strange.
It will also be interesting to see how “TNF” analyst Kirk Herbstreit holds up. He will be calling two games in three days through early December, as he is still the analyst for ABC’s Saturday night college football coverage … plus his duties as a member of ESPN’s “College GameDay” Saturday morning. Will exhaustion kick in?
There will be two “MNF” games this week. Tennessee visits Buffalo at 7:15 p.m., and Philadelphia hosts Minnesota at 8:30 p.m.
As for my Week 1 picks, it wasn’t a good start to the season. I went 8-7-1. My Gazette colleague Adam Shinder, who is making his U Pick Em debut, went 10-5-1.
Hey, at least our Philadelphia Eagles win.
You can play the U Pick ‘Em contest during the postseason by clicking https://dailygazette.com/football/?contestid=3#registration/login.
Here are my Week 2 picks.
THURSDAY
Kansas City 34, L.A. Chargers 20
SUNDAY
Baltimore 21, Miami 14
Cleveland 27, N.Y. Jets 6
Washington 24, Detroit 21
Indianapolis 21, Jacksonville 20
Tampa Bay 27, New Orleans 24
N.Y. Giants 25, Carolina 17
Pittsburgh 23, New England 10
L.A. Rams 28, Atlanta 14
San Francisco 20, Seattle 13
Cincinnati 28, Dallas 6
Denver 28, Houston 17
Las Vegas 30, Arizona 21
Green Bay 27, Chicago 24
MONDAY
Buffalo 31, Tennessee 14
Philadelphia 31, Minnesota 28
WEEK 2 TV SCHEDULE
(Subject to change)
THURSDAY
Amazon Prime Video — L.A. Chargers at Kansas City, 8:15 p.m. (Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit, Kaylee Hartung).
SUNDAY
FOX23 (WXXA) — Carolina at N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m. (Joe Davis, Daryl Johnston, Pam Oliver).
CBS6 (WRGB) and Paramount+ — N.Y. Jets at Cleveland, 1 p.m. (Spero Dedes, Jay Feely, Aditi Kinkhabwala); Cincinnati at Dallas, 4:25 p.m. (Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, Tracy Wolfson).
DirectTV NFL Sunday Ticket — Indianapolis at Jacksonville, 1 p.m. (Tom McCarthy, Tiki Barber); Miami at Baltimore, 1 p.m. (Kevin Harlan, Trent Green, Melanie Collins); New England at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m. (Ian Eagle, Charles Davis, Evan Washburn); Tampa Bay at New Orleans, 1 p.m. (Kevin Burkhardt, Greg Olsen, Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi); Washington at Detroit, 1 p.m. (Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, Shannon Spake); Atlanta at L.A. Rams, 4:05 p.m. (Kevin Kugler, Mark Sanchez, Laura Okmin); Seattle at San Francisco, 4:05 p.m. (Adam Amin, Mark Schlereth, Kristina Pink); Arizona at Las Vegas, 4:25 p.m. (Greg Gumbel, Adam Archuletta, A.J. Ross); Houston at Denver, 4:25 p.m. (Andrew Catalon, James Lofton, Michael Grady).
NBC13 (WNYT) and Peacock — Chicago at Green Bay, 8:20 p.m. (Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth, Melissa Stark).
MONDAY
ESPN — Tennessee at Buffalo, 7:15 p.m. (Steve Levy, Dan Orlovsky and Louis Riddick, Laura Rutledge).
ABC10 (WTEN) — Minnesota at Philadelphia, 8:30 p.m. (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters).
