Image via AP Photo
By Lucas Kochevar The NFL is doing something that’ll get a ton of flack on Saturday when the casual fan tunes in for a playoff game between Patrick Mahomes and Tua Tagovailoa. The Swifties will be in shambles. The Chiefs and Dolphins will be exclusively on Peacock, the NBC streaming service. The NFL has been flexing on their competition a bit with how they’ve handled the scheduling and streaming of their games. The NFL owned Christmas over the NBA and they’re putting games behind paywalls. They know they can do this because they’re numbers are absolutely massive. The NFL owns 93 out of the top 100 most watched programs on TV in 2023. College football’s biggest game of the season, the national championship, was Monday on ESPN. It averaged around 25 million viewers. The Cowboys versus Commanders, a mostly meaningless game during week 18, saw around 21 million viewers. The NFL owns the TV ratings and they can do whatever they want. That’s what the NFL is telling you by putting this wild-card game behind a paywall. They’re right too. I’m sure this game will do great numbers and Peacock will see an insane boost in revenue. I won’t say how I’ll watch the game, but let's just say I’ll find it in a similar way that I find UFC fights. Sadly, most of the general public won’t figure this out and they’ll give money to the machine. It’s a tough reality, but it’s likely what will happen. For those that won’t pay for it, I have a good idea for how this game will go. The Dolphins have been running on fumes. They’ve lost three of the last five games and the two wins were a nasty win over the Cowboys and a win over the anemic Jets. The Dolphins haven’t played well in the winter and Saturday’s game is slated to be the coldest game in HISTORY. The temperature at kickoff could be zero degrees. The Chiefs haven’t played much better than the Dolphins down the stretch. They won more games, but it was ugly. There’s a hitch in how the Chiefs are running their offense and I think it comes back to all of their receiving options being subpar, even Kelce this season. This is a rare season from the Mahomes’ Chiefs as they likely won’t flip the switch. Great teams that win often will sleep walk through the regular season and it’s easy to see. The Chiefs are not one of those teams. They’ve had legitimate growing pains and it hasn’t looked any better at any point throughout the season. The Chiefs will have to win this game through smash mouth football and defense. Their defense has been strong this season and Isiah Pacheco runs the ball with bad intentions. I think the Chiefs will play bully ball and the Dolphins won’t get that momentum going that’s made them successful this year. The game within the game runs through the rushing attack for either team, but give me the Chiefs because of the defense.
1 Comment
Checkmate King Two This is White Rook
1/12/2024 01:37:32 pm
Hey LKSports…. Great article…!!! Not paying for football games…that’s just me ..I guess,,, good Luck
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Lucas KochevarI love sports and I'm a local fan of the Falcons, Hawks, and Braves. You can find my quick thoughts and more on my twitter @lucaswkochevar |