Week 3 was the first of back-to-back weeks where there's a "Monday Night Football" doubleheader on this year's NFL schedule, with one game starting around 45 minutes before the second. The Detroit Lions will of course be part of that doubleheader in Week 4, as the later-starting game on Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks.
When ESPN first got "Monday Night Football" in 2006, Week 1 had an east coast-west coast doubleheader. That has now become two games going on at the same time, during multiple other weeks of the season. After Week 4 this year, there are Monday night doubleheaders in Week 7 and Week 15.
Last Monday night Mike Florio of Pro Football conducted a Twitter poll asking what people thought of the doubleheader, which of course largely had two games going at the same time. That night had one game that was a blowout and one that was quite good, with the good one serving as insurance against what would have been a standalone dud otherwise.
Two-thirds of over 32,800 respondents to Florio's poll said they don't like the Monday night doubleheader. The thought from this corner is it's impossible to follow two games closely at the same time, if you want to.
Do you like two games being played at the same time on Monday night?
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 24, 2024
Amon-Ra St. Brown echoes fan sentiment about Monday night doubleheaders
Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown talked to reporters in the locker room after Friday's practice. He was asked about playing on the Monday night stage.
"I thought we were the only team playing until a few days ago, and I was kind of upset, I don't know when they started doing these doubleheaders on Monday. Any primetime I love, but now it's kind of like a half-a**ed primetime game...."
"Monday Night Football" still carries great novelty for players, and fans. But that novelty is rooted in how it's a standalone game with the "world watching", and it's naturally diminished when two games are going on the same time. But the NFL has to give Disney (ESPN and ABC's parent company) reason to fork over the money it does for the rights to Monday night games, so overlapping doubleheaders probably aren't going away.
Fans don't have to like it though (and a lot don't, apparently), so there's some solace in the fact a player like St. Brown isn't a big fan either. And he may not be alone among his peers, inside or outside the Lions' locker room.
