Review: NFL Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video

Amazon PrimeVideo has been streaming NFL Thursday Night Football since 2017. So, how is the viewing experience? Let’s review NFL Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video.

The NFL will broadcast 15 games on Thursday nights in 2020 (and 1 Friday game on Dec. 25th), but only 11 of those games will be available on Amazon Prime Video. Amazon Prime will live stream Thursday Night games beginning October 8th (Week 5) through December 25th (Week 16) with the exception of Thanksgiving Night game which will be broadcast by NBC. The NFL Kickoff game in week 1 is broadcast by NBC, and weeks 2, 3, and 4 are exclusively on NFL Network.

How To Watch

Games are available in to watch on your computer at amazon.com/Prime-Video, Amazon Prime Video App on mobile, or with Amazon Prime Video App on TV connected devices or Smart TVs.

Features

One of the unique experiences you’ll see with NFL on Amazon Prime Video is multiple audio feeds. Viewers are able to choose from three different audio feeds including the main broadcast feed from Fox. It’s somewhat similar to the ESPN Megacast concept where ESPN provides a number of different viewing experiences across their family of stations for a single sporting event.

Prime Video features 3 different English audio feeds, plus a Spanish language feed. The main broadcast feed is the exact same broadcast you’ll hear on Fox and NFL Network.

There is second feed that features Hannah Storm and Andrea Kremer calling the action.

A third feed called the “Scout’s Feed” is new in 2020 and features former NFL scouts Bucky Brooks and Daniel Jeremiah along with Joy Taylor. This particular feed is interesting but might be a bit of an acquired taste. The Scouts feed is more of a conversation about the game as it’s going on as opposed to Buck and Aikman or Storm and Kremer who are actually calling the action.

To access the alternate feeds in the browser, select the Audio and Subtitles icon and choose your feed.

On Fire TV, hit the menu button and select Audio & Commentary. After you select your feed, hit the back button again. It may takes several seconds for the audio to switch over to the new feed.

The other cool feature with Amazon Prime Video is Stats by X-Ray, which features a variety of in stats and information.

Stats by X-Ray

Stats by X-ray is available on Fire TV by pressing up on your remote, on mobile by turning your phone, or by clicking the Stats by X-Ray in the browser.

On the Fire TV, the Stats tab shows the traditional statistics like passing, rushing and receiving. The Plays tab is play-by-play for with play diagrams and video highlights for big plays and touchdowns. Teams shows the team roster and, as you might guess, shop is where you can buy NFL team gear.

There are some real “Next-Gen Stats” such as Touchdown probability, top speed, yards of separation for receivers, etc. These “Next Gen Stats” are shown when you access one of the available replays.

Amazon Prime Video Controls

Unfortunately, there is no pause, rewind, or fast forward. It’s a straight up live stream. On the Fire TV, the menu button will pull up the audio options to switch feeds and the pressing up on remote will bring up the Stats by X-Ray, but that’s pretty much it.

If nothing else, it does give you the opportunity to go back and watch some highlights during the commercial breaks.

Conclusion

NFL on Amazon Prime offers fans some interesting and unique features such as the alternative feeds and Stats by X-Ray. For me it comes down to whether you want the added benefit of the rewind, fast-forward, and pause, or prefer the added stats and feeds provided by Amazon Prime Video.