NFL announces first-ever Black Friday game, featuring a marquee matchup

The NFL Black Friday game is set for the day after Thanksgiving. By this time, you might be ready permanently attached to your couch for a turkey-related football binge. College football games usually happen that afternoon. And now, fans get a Friday contest to usher in even more games for the holiday weekend.

Also, Amazon has an early holiday gift for viewers. Whether you have access to Prime Video, Amazon will allow fans to watch for free. In other words, you don’t need a subscription to Amazon Prime. Amazon also teased that there would be a concert in conjunction with this first ever Black Friday NFL game.

The NFL also announced two more holiday matchups. The Giants and Eagles play Christmas Day. So this special game features two of the most traditional rivals of the NFC East. The Eagles will play host to the Giants with a kick at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. Presents = opened. (Check). Meal and seconds = belly full (Check).

And then the NFL will say good bye to 2023 with maybe the best game of the year. Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City, the defending Super Bowl champs, take on Joe Burrow’s Bengals. Those two have played for the AFC championship the past two seasons. There’s no reason to believe it’s not going to happen a third time.

Plus, the league revealed the international games. You can check those here. Let’s circle back to the NFL’s Black Friday game. Although it’s early May and we’re still months away from the holiday season, it’s fun to let our minds wander about football.

We can look forward to this game by hoping that both quarterbacks manage to stay healthy. Rodgers will be days away from his 40th birthday when the Jets play host to the Dolphins. Meanwhile, Tagovailoa has youth on his side. He’s only 25. But he’s worked all offseason to be able to withstand concussions. He suffered two, possibly three, concussions in 2022, with the last one happening on Christmas Day. That’s when the Dolphins faced Rodgers and the Packers in Miami. Tua played the entire game. However, doctors didn’t diagnose him with a concussion until afterwards. Tagovailoa didn’t return to action the rest of the season.

The NFL announces the full schedule Thursday. Wednesday is about some appetizers to get us through to Thursday’s giant spread. We like the taste so far.