Thursday Night Football is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights.

Thursday Night Football 2022 : Week 1 | NFL | Watch

Most of the games kick off at 8:20 Eastern Time, but games in the package also air occasionally on Saturdays in the later portion of the season, as well as a single Sunday morning game from London in the NFL International Series (these games have been branded since 2017 as NFL Network Special).

Thursday Night Football 2022 : Week 1 | NFL | Watch

Also known as TNF
Genre NFL football telecasts
Presented by Al Michaels
Kirk Herbstreit
Kaylee Hartung
Terry McAulay
Charissa Thompson
Tony Gonzalez
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Richard Sherman
Andrew Whitworth
Taylor Rooks
Michael Smith
Dude Perfect
Theme music composer Pinar Toprak
Opening theme “Prime Video Sports Theme”
Country of origin United States
Original language English

Debuting on November 23, 2006, the telecasts were originally part of NFL Network’s Run to the Playoffs package, which consisted of eight total games broadcast on Thursday and Saturday nights (five on Thursdays, and three on Saturdays, originally branded as Saturday Night Football) during the latter portion of the season.

Since 2012, the TNF package has begun during the second week of the NFL season; the NFL Kickoff Game and the NFL on Thanksgiving are both broadcast as part of NBC Sports’ Sunday Night Football contract and are not included in Thursday Night Football, although the Thanksgiving primetime game was previously part of the package from 2006 until 2011.

Thursday Night Football week 1

The first Thursday night NFL game of the season will feature two division winners from last season.

  • Matchup: Bills at Rams
  • Location: SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.

As is customary, one is the reigning Super Bowl champion Rams; they will do battle with a team that has Super Bowl aspirations of its own entering the 2022 season.

That would be the Bills, who are playing for the first time since their crushing loss at the hands of the Chiefs in the 2022 NFL playoffs.

Buffalo blew a three-point lead in just under 13 seconds against Patrick Mahomes and Co. and surely, that loss has been stinging throughout the offseason.

As such, the Bills will be eager to eliminate that bad taste by earning a victory. 

As for the Bills, they have one of the most high-powered offenses in the NFL thanks to the $258 million man, quarterback Josh Allen, and his dynamic top receiver Stefon Diggs.

NFL

The first Thursday night NFL game is at the same time that all of the NFL’s Thursday night games will kick off during the 2022 NFL season.

Thursday Night Football 2022 : Week 1 | NFL | Watch

The other two prime-time games are also exciting. The Cowboys and the Buccaneers will square off in Week 1 for the second consecutive season as both look to challenge for division titles in 2022.

On “Monday Night Football,” Russell Wilson will play his first game with the Broncos … against his former team, the Seahawks, in Seattle. It will surely be an emotional cap to Week 1 for the 33-year-old quarterback.

Baker Mayfield also gets to square off against his former team when the Panthers take on the Browns in a 1 p.m. ET game on Sunday.

That may be the most intriguing of the non-prime-time games, though many will be interested to see how Trey Lance does in his first game since being named the 49ers’ full-time starter during the offseason.

Watch

Streamers will be able to view the Thursday night game for free with a cable subscription by using either the NFL App or the Yahoo! Sports App. You must enter cable/satellite subscription credentials to access it.

Meanwhile, NFL+ is limited to live local broadcasts and primetime games. Streamers can access other features with the NFL’s new streaming service as well, including NFL Network programming and game replays of each contest.

Thursday Night Football 2022 : Week 1 | NFL | Watch

Cord-cutters will have plenty of options to watch Bills vs. Rams. They are as follows.

Streaming option Cable subscription needed? Free? Cost Free trial?
NFL App Yes Yes
Yahoo! Sports App Yes Yes
NFL+ No No $9.99/month Yes
DirecTV Stream No No $49.99/month Yes
fuboTV No No $69.99/month Yes
Hulu Plus Live TV No No $69.99/month Yes
Sling TV No No $35/month Yes
YouTube TV No No $54.99/month Yes

 

By Rishabh

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