NFL says Panthers vs. Texans set TNF viewing records

Thursday night’s game between the Carolina Panthers in Houston Texans was the NFL network’s most-watched Thursday Night Football game since 2018, according to NFL media.

NFL sized numbers

This metric takes into account both standard TV and digital viewers. The numbers also say that overall viewership was up plus 35% in comparison to last year’s Thursday night Week 3 matchup between the Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars. And it was up 25% over NFL Network’s 2020 exclusive Thursday Night Football three-game average.

Overall digital streaming platforms was up, a 26% average increase from last year. This year’s game averaged 484K viewers per minute, whereas last year’s Dolphins-Jaguars game only averaged 384K per minute.

The NFL Network is hoping to repeat this trend of increased viewership with next Thursday night’s game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars. That matchup will feature this year’s and last year’s No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Trevor Lawrence was taken with the No. 1 overall pick this year and Joe Burrow took the honor in 2020 with Cincinnati.

In Thursday’s game between the Panthers and Texans, multiple storylines were at play.

Texans quarterback delima

For the Texans, it was how would they do without Quarterback Tyrod Taylor. He was ruled out with a strained hamstring. Taylor suffered the injury in the first half of their game with the Browns. At the time, the Texans were tied with the Browns 14-14. But without Taylor, they would end up losing the game 31-21. Getting the starting nod was rookie David Mills.

Mills was Houston’s third-round pick in this year’s draft out of Stanford. In his stint replacing Taylor in the second half of their loss on Sunday, Mills finished the game with a passer rating of 58.1. That was due to him completing 8 of his 18 attempts for 102 yards, one touchdown and an interception. The rookie was going to face off against a defense that was a point of interest itself.

The Panthers defense is for real

The Panthers defense looked like a problem heading into the game. In their first two games, they allowed an average of 11.5 points per game. Carolina was fresh off of a suffocating win against the New Orleans Saints. They allowed just 128 yards of total defense and had two interceptions on the game. However, the most impressive stat of that game was just 48 rushing yards allowed. Limiting one of the game’s most electric players in Alvin Kamara to just five yards rushing.

The NFL Thursday night games are drawing in the crowds early in the season. If they can keep this buzz going, the NFL could be crowned America’s top sports league for the year.