Once the low point of the NFL’s weekly schedule, Thursday Night Football is seeing a dramatic improvement thanks to some marquee matchups.
Dallas wins 20-15 against the New York Giants 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 taking in sole charge of the primetime package in 2022.
Nielsen’s numbers are the first figures in its ratings panel. More comprehensive figures, measuring set-top boxes, smart TVs and other streaming platforms, will be released on Monday.
The two most-streamed regular season games involved the Cowboys. The previous mark was 15.26 million for the Cowboys’ 41-35 win over the Seattle Seahawks on November 30, 2023, which was also a Prime Video Thursday night game.
Thursday night’s viewership peaked at 18.10 million during the second quarter, also a record for Prime Video. It narrowly topped 18.09 million viewers during the second quarter of the Buffalo Bills-Miami Dolphins game two weeks ago.
Giants receiver Darius Slayton fails to catch a pass against Cowboys corner Amani Oruwariye
Over three weeks, “Thursday Night Football on Prime” averaged 14.88 million viewers, an increase of 25 percent from last season.
The news wasn’t all good, especially for the Giants, who may have lost rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers to a concussion.
Giants head coach Brian Daboll said Nabers was at Giants headquarters Friday and was following concussion protocol. That means he can’t practice until he’s cleared by New York medical staff and an independent neurological consultant. He sat in on team meetings while the Giants ran through Dallas film.
Nabers and the Giants will have more than a week to prepare to face the Seahawks (3-0) in Seattle on October 6. Seattle plays at Detroit on Sunday.
“Yeah, we’ll take it day by day 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 the sacking of 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 of 52 of Jones’ 144 pass attempts.
He was the mainstay of an offense that produced yards but not many points. Greg Joseph made five field goals to account for New York’s points against the Cowboys.
Despite a slow start, Daboll remains optimistic. The offensive line is playing better than a year ago. Receivers make big plays. The defense held three opponents to 21 points or fewer. The sticking point is the offense, which averages 15 points.
“There are games where we have played well in the red zone and then there are games where we have not been successful. So the consistency factor really needs to be improved,” Daboll said.
