Todd Gurley can be included among the NFL players that aren’t fans of “Thursday Night Football.”
Gurley, the Los Angeles Rams’ two-time All-Pro running back, gave his honest opinion when asked about how he felt playing in another football game just four days after facing the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Gurley’s Rams – who fell at home to the Buccaneers on Sunday – will face the Seahawks in Seattle on Thursday night.
“You know how I feel about Thursday night games,” Gurley said following Sunday’s loss, via USA Today’s Scott Gleeson. “I feel like they are the dumbest thing ever.”
John Johnson, the Rams’ veteran safety, offered similar answer to Gurley’s when asked about playing on Thursday night.
“It’s never a good thing to be on a short week,” Johnson said.
The Rams, trying to speed up preparations for Thursday night’s game, had exercise bikes and message tables inside the locker room following Sunday’s game. Gurley, who scored two touchdowns despite having a season-low 12 touches in Sunday’s 55-40 loss, said that as long as you’re healthy, playing on Thursday night isn’t the end of the world.
“For the most part, if you aren’t really battling injuries or stuff like that, Thursday is kind of like a day you usually feel good anyway,” Gurley said. “(Seattle) played on Sunday, as well.”
Speaking of Seattle, the Seahawks, like the Rams, are 3-1 heading into Thursday night’s game. Seattle is hoping to have running back Rashaad Penny, who was inactive with a hamstring injury during Sunday’s 27-10 victory over the Cardinals in Arizona. With Penny out, Chris Carson, who played through an ankle injury, amassed a season-high 145 total yards on Sunday that included 104 rushing yards on 22 carries. Quarterback Russell Wilson received a considerable amount of punishment in Sunday’s win, getting sacked four times while being hit on numerous other occasions.
Playing on Thursday night will surely be a topic of conversation when the league and the NFLPA meet to come to terms on an new collective bargaining agreement. While Thursday night games will likely survive the new CBA, the NFLPA may fight to put in place new guidelines with regard to how they will play into a team’s regular season schedule. One idea that may be mentioned is having each Thursday night participant receive a bye week either before or after their Thursday night game. This way, both teams wouldn’t have the burden of playing two games in a five-day span. The extra time may also help improve the quality of games played on Thursday night.
For now, Gurley and the rest of his NFL peers will continue to play at least one game per season on less than five days rest.
