Thursday Night Football

Like Coca-Cola and Colonel Sanders, the NFL must have a special recipe. How else can it continue to cook up such awful Thursday night matchups that lead to constant criticism of its product?

As we get an evening off from the World Series, we’ll tune into the epic battle between the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-4) and the Tennessee Titans (3-4). Why will we watch? Because it’s on. And because it’s the NFL. Those reasons, however, continue to fail as motivation in this benighted season. Normally a division game – these two compete in the AFC South – would engender some excitement. Instead, there’s mostly ridicule. You could argue the NFL should bring back the TV blackouts.

There’s not much to differentiate between these teams. They’re like identical cousins who therefore are an attraction, but not at all attractive in any other way. The Jaguars could look in a mirror and see the Titans.

They’re both coming off losses. Before those defeats, the Jaguars beat the awful Chicago Bears by a point and the Titans beat the hopeless, winless Cleveland Browns by two. The Jaguars score a little less than 20 points a game, the Titans a little bit more.

Both teams have young, developing quarterbacks and Tennessee’s Marcus Mariota, by virtue of his mobility, is a bit more fun to watch than Jacksonville’s Blake Bortles.

Can you name Jacksonville’s leading rusher? Or Tennessee’s top receiver? These are questions for trained professionals (and fantasy league devotees). The stars won’t come out tonight.

OK, it’s the NFL. And it’s on. You’ll have to decide if this is worth three hours of your life.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman