Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin gave voice to the frustrations of many NFL players’ displeasure with the league’s Thursday night game. The number of players speaking out seems to grow all the time. But, like on other issues, the Seahawks locker room is particularly vocal.
Baldwin wasn’t the only player to speak out this week, but his quote was the one that seems to have stuck. Per Gregg Bell of the Tacoma News Tribune, “This [expletive] should be illegal” was the wide receiver’s choice of words.
The News Tribune also quoted Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner as saying the following:
“We play a very physical sport and to ask us to turn around and be ready after Sunday to turn around and have our body be OK on that Thursday is just really tough for us to do. Hope the league is watching and hopefully they’ll look at it and see what’s happened and change the format. If you’re going to give us the Thursday night game … maybe give us a bye week before.”
Seattle lost a number of players over the course of Thursday night’s 22-16 victory over NFC West foe Arizona.
Once again, this Thursday night “showcase” needs to end. #Seahawks lose 6 starters, Richard Sherman for the year https://t.co/kQuWvvXUb9
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) November 10, 2017
The loss of cornerback Richard Sherman was the paramount concern for the Seahawks. And probably the source of much of Doug Baldwin’s frustrations. Sherman has been diagnosed with a ruptured achilles and is out for the rest of the season.
Sherman, like Baldwin, was skeptical of Thursday Night Football last season. In fact, Sherman published a Player’s Tribune article on December 14, 2016, titled “Why I Hate Thursday Night Football.” In that piece, Sherman opens by calling the NFL’s weekly kickoff game a slightly more juvenile (but more quotable) version of Baldwin’s words. Sherman called the game a “Poopfest.”
