Once the low-point of the NFL’s weekly schedule, Thursday Night Football is enjoying a dramatic improvement thanks to some marquee matchups.
Dallas’ 20-15 victory over the New York Giants on Thursday night averaged 16.22 million viewers, according to Nielsen, making it the most-streamed NFL regular-season game in history and Amazon Prime Video’s most-watched game since exclusively taking over the prime-time package in 2022.
The Nielsen figures are early numbers from its ratings panel. More comprehensive figures, which measure set-top boxes, smart TVs and other streaming platforms, will be released Monday.
The two highest-streamed regular-season games have involved the Cowboys. The previous mark was 15.26 million for the Cowboys’ 41-35 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on November 30, 2023, which was also a Prime Video Thursday night game.
Thursday night’s audience peaked at 18.10 million during the second quarter, also a record for Prime Video. It narrowly surpassed the 18.09 million watching during the second quarter of the Buffalo Bills-Miami Dolphins game two weeks ago.
Giants receiver Darius Slayton can’t catch a pass against Cowboys corner Amani Oruwariye
Through three weeks, ‘Thursday Night Football on Prime’ is averaging 14.88 million, a 25-percent increase over last season.
The news wasn’t all good, especially for the Giants, who may have lost rookie receiver Malik Nabers to a concussion.
Giants head coach Brian Daboll said Nabers was at the Giants headquarters on Friday and was in the concussion protocol. That means he cannot practice until he is cleared by New York’s medical personnel and an independent neurological consultant. He was in team meetings as the Giants went over the Dallas film.
Nabers and the Giants will have more than a week to get ready to face the Seahawks (3-0) in Seattle on October 6. Seattle plays at Detroit on Sunday.
‘Yeah, we’ll just take it day by day here and see where he’s at,’ Daboll said Friday when asked what the offense would do if Nabers wasn’t ready for the Seattle game.
Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland (94) reacts after sacking Daniel Jones
Nabers leads the Giants with 35 catches for 386 yards and three touchdowns. He caught a career-high 12 passes for 115 yards against Dallas, including a 39-yarder that was the team’s longest completion of the season. It was his second 100-yard game. The LSU product has seven catches for at least 20 yards and 19 first-down receptions, and he has been the target on 52 of Jones’ 144 pass attempts.
He has been the main component of an offense that is producing yards but not many points. Greg Joseph kicked five field goals to account for New York’s points against the Cowboys.
Despite the slow start, Daboll is optimistic. The offensive line is playing better than a year ago. The receivers are making big plays. The defense has held three opponents to 21 points or less. The sticking point is the offense, which is averaging 15 points.
‘There’s games we’ve performed well in the red zone and then there’s games that we haven’t. So, the consistency factor really needs to improve,’ Daboll said.
