So is this how Roger Goodell and the NFL thugs are going to avoid being criticized? Forbidding the television networks from showing the National Anthem before NFL games? Looks that way after last night’s game between Philadelphia and Carolina. CBS mysteriously cut off it’s telecast and went to commercial just as the National Anthem was about to be played in Charlotte last night. After yet another ratings plunge on Thursday Night Football, the damage control of CBS and the NFL still isn’t working.
| CBS refuses to show National Anthem on Thursday Night Football – rating plunge |
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If you watched the Philadelphia Eagles 28-23 win over the Carolina Panthers on Thursday Night Football last night you would have seen the home turf team’s Luke Kuechly exit the game in the second quarter due to a possible concussion.
However, despite a potential move by the NFL to disallow protest by players during the national anthem, one thing you would have not seen on TNF on CBS and the NFL Network last night was the playing of the national anthem.
As the controversy over players taking a knee or raising a fist over social injustice shows no signs of abating, the net and the league took a default position and decided not to show the national anthem or the response in Charlotte last night. As social media went into overdrive in reaction, the TV audience did not see the Panthers all stand for the song, nor the Eagles’ Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod each raise a fist into the air with teammate Chris Long appear to show solidarity.
Yet, with the Eagles vs. Panthers match-up getting a 10.6/18 in metered market results on CBS and NFL Network, perhaps there was some of the once usual NFL audience who choose not to watch at all. Last night’s game was down 5% from last week’s big draw New England Patriots 19-14 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where all the players stood during the national anthem in part in tribute to the victims of the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas just days before. That October 5 game was up 12% in the early numbers from the TNF opener on CBS of September 28.