By Richard Deitsch, Zack Rosenblatt, Charlotte Carroll and Zach Berman
The NFL will kick off the holiday season with a few division rivalry games, including the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins meeting in the first-ever Black Friday game. Here’s what you need to know:
- The Jets and quarterback Aaron Rodgers will host Miami in an AFC East showdown at 3 p.m. ET on Nov. 24.
- The holiday action continues when the Eagles and the New York Giants meet in Philadelphia for an NFC East matchup on Christmas Day at 4:30 p.m. ET.
- To ring in 2024, the Kansas City Chiefs will host the Cincinnati Bengals on New Year’s Eve at 4:25 p.m. ET.
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
Amazon lands major matchup
The NFL’s Black Friday game has a built-in cachet because it’s a new media franchise for the league. So there will always be curiosity seekers tuning in — especially on an off-day from work for many people. But the NFL really took care of its big-money partner — at least on paper — by giving Amazon the Jets versus Dolphins.
Rodgers is on the short list of the most well-known players in the league — he’s also polarizing and that’s always a viewership draw. The Dolphins are expected to be playoff contenders. So you have two significant media markets and two teams with playoff potential in a divisional game that could have real meaning. There’s nothing historical viewership-wise to compare to a 3:00 p.m. ET Friday start but I think Amazon is going to do very well here. Don’t be surprised if the viewership is a wow number. — Deitsch
Jets on Black Friday is no surprise
It’s not a surprise the Jets are being featured on one of the NFL’s new holiday games — but that’s what happens when Rodgers is your quarterback. The Jets and Dolphins should be duking it out for the AFC East title by the time this game comes around too.
It was last year around this time that the Jets started their collapse that knocked them out of the playoffs so they’ll hope that doesn’t happen again this time. As an added wrinkle: MetLife Stadium is situated right next to a mall, which should be packed on Black Friday. Prepare accordingly. — Rosenblatt
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Divisional matchup on Christmas
If we’re not getting Giants versus Jets on one of this season’s holidays, a matchup with the Eagles is the next best thing. While the Eagles won all three meetings this past season — including giving a beating in the divisional round — the matchups were anticipated rival games.
The NFL is giving two major markets and fanbases one heck of a present. Now, it’s on the Giants to deliver their first win of the series in the Brian Daboll era. — Carroll
Giants-Eagles could be pivotal
You can count on a Philadelphia crowd that’s in the Christmas spirit when the Giants visit. This rivalry has been tilted in Philadelphia’s direction in recent seasons; the Eagles have won 16 of the last 20 matchups, and the Giants have not won at Lincoln Financial Field since 2013.
As the defending NFC champions and one of the favorites to play in the Super Bowl again, the Eagles would be a disappointment if they’re not nursing a winning record at this point in the season. Fans hope the season has something in common with the last time the Eagles hosted a game on Christmas: when they beat the Raiders on a frigid 2017 night on their path to their only Lombardi Trophy. — Berman
Backstory
The addition of the Black Friday game comes after the NFL and Prime Video teamed up in the 2022 season to make Amazon the new home of “Thursday Night Football.” Under their deal, Prime Video will carry 15 “TNF” games annually through the 2032 season.
The NFL has announced its slate of international games, which includes the Chiefs and Dolphins meeting in Germany at Frankfurt Stadium in Week 9. The full 2023 NFL schedule will be released on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.
Required reading
(Photo: Sam Navarro / USA Today)
Jets-Dolphins to play in first-ever Black Friday game; Eagles meet Giants on Christmas Day - The Athletic
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