Amazon’s third season of Thursday Night Football on Prime Video kicked off Thursday night with the Buffalo Bills at the Miami Dolphins. Ahead of that, their pregame, halftime, and studio show analysts Ryan Fitzpatrick, Richard Sherman, Tony Gonzalez, and Andrew Whitworth spoke to media on a conference call Wednesday.
There, they discussed how they’re approaching the third year of this show overall, with Gonzalez saying their key goal is to connect with fans.
“I think it’s presenting entertainment. To me, it’s got to be—you want to watch guys that you think are just having a conversation up there, that the only thing missing are some drinks on the table, guys sitting around at a bar talking about football games,” Gonzalez said. “We like to keep it light, but we also like to dive deep at times too.”
Gonzalez said he loves the ability to dive deep on their featured matchup, something he didn’t have to the same extent with his pregame show work on CBS and Fox.
“We just have the one game. It’s not like when I worked on the Sunday shows and you’ve got a whole bunch of games you’ve got to talk about,” Gonzalez added. “This is just getting ready for one game, for the most part, 90 percent of that. We’ll talk about other games coming up throughout the week and maybe some other stuff that’s newsworthy that we need to talk about.”
He said the overarching focus is on a relatable conversation.
“It’s about us having a fun time. I want to see some joking. I want to see us laughing. Also, let’s get into the weeds, get a little nerdy sometimes with some stats on football. Because I think if we’re having a good time, that means the audience is having a good time watching us,” said Gonzalez.
And Sherman (who also discussed the importance of TNF’s AI-powered defensive insights elsewhere in the call) said that fun atmosphere is the overall goal for him as well, with Charissa Thompson’s hosting work key to that.
“We try to have a good time,” Sherman said. “We try to inform the fans. We try to entertain. As you can see, we’re good friends on there. We get along well. We know the game. So we just try to let that show on the camera.”
“I don’t think we philosophically think of anything that we’re trying to accomplish per se when we’re going in there, but you put really smart people together, you put a great host in Charissa. She’s a great quarterback in getting us where we need to be, getting us in and out of spots, and she’s really entertaining and hilarious in her own right. So we just try to keep up with her,” noted Sherman.
Whitworth said they’re not overly focused on how they compare to other studio shows.
“I don’t think I really look at it as anybody else,” said Whitworth. “I look at it as all of us at our desk and the crew behind the camera and in front of it. Each one of us is us every single week.
“We have fun, Whitworth added. :We have a blast together. We love traveling, going to NFL cities. We love the game of football. We want to create an atmosphere, when you’re sitting at home, that you say, every one of those people I’m watching right now talking about this game, I’d love for them to come sit in my living room and watch this game with us.”
He said he wants the show to be both informative and entertaining.
“We hope that involves giving you information about the game, educating on something you should be looking for and how one team or the other is going to be successful and the game plan they’re going to implement in that game,” said Whitworth. “We hope that involves making you laugh and having a good time and wanting to get a drink or something to eat that you love and enjoy yourself.
“And [we want to] just create a moment to get away from everything else in your life and just enjoy the game of football and celebrate what is a game that’s changed every one of our lives for the better and been something that we’ve all enjoyed the opportunity to play. And we hope it gives you a great experience to sit and watch and enjoy the game with us,” Whitworth added.
Fitzpatrick said this group of analysts, all of who played relatively recently, love this show for the chance it gives them to stay connected to the NFL.
“I would say we all absolutely love football, and we all have relationships—I hate to say leveraged relationships, but we have these relationships with players and coaches from just being all over the league,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s so fun every week to go to these cities, to experience the fan bases together, to go out and have our meals, and also just to catch up. Catch up with equipment staff, training staff, different coaches, different players.
“For us to be able to share our experiences and really to be a conduit of sharing the experience of these players to the viewers, I think it’s really important, and it’s just something — football’s meant so much to all of our lives. We love being a part of it still,” Fitzpatrick said.
Whitworth said they’re more focused on how to improve their own product than on any conversation about other shows.
“I think in our pregame show, we hope to educate, entertain, have fun, and create an atmosphere where you want to come back and spend your Thursday nights with us,” Whitworth explained. “That’s basically it. Outside of that, I don’t think we concern ourselves with what everyone else does.”
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