Ever wish you knew how to stream NFL games year round?
Well if you’ve ever experienced the “post-season blues”, you likely did – or do.
To clarify, the post-season blues – as I call it – is the empty feeling we NFL fans get after the Super Bowl.
Indeed, from that point on the nights seem longer and the weather feels colder, even as you start the countdown to draft day. Consequently, instead of looking forward to Sundays, you now dread them.
The severity and duration of the symptoms will vary, depending on which pro sports you follow. That is to say, for basketball and hockey fans, it’s a quick transition. Baseball devotees, on the other hand, will have to wait at least a few weeks (till spring training).
But if your one and only true love is NFL football, well, let’s just say…
Seven months is a long time
Let’s face it, there’s a black hole in between the Super Bowl and the start of the regular season. The need for more football – and the willingness to provide it – is evident in the attempts to establish spring leagues like the AAF & XFL. And then there’s the NFL draft, which set records in 2019 for number of attendees (600,000) and viewers (47.5 million).
To that end, wouldn’t it be so cool if you knew how to stream NFL games during the off-season? The games won’t be live, of course, but it’s the hard-hitting action that you crave. And there’s more than enough of them to keep you going for months.
How to stream NFL games all year long
It goes without saying that these won’t be live games. With that in mind, there are just 2 streaming providers that let you watch old NFL games:
- YouTube
- NFL+
While YouTube’s NFL channel has a sizable number of full games. It’s a random list. NFL+, on the other hand, lets you choose from every regular & post season (including Pro Bowl & Super Bowl) game dating back to 2009.
So when it comes time to chase away the winter doldrums, would you rather watch…
- A 1 – 1 tie in hockey?
- A basketball game that won’t get “real” until the last 3 minutes?
- MLB contests played at a sloth’s pace?
Or, one of NFL.com’s top 10 games of the 2010s?
- Patriots 28, Seahawks 24 (Super Bowl XLIX)
- Ravens 38, Broncos 35 (2012 AFC Divisional Playoffs)
- Patriots 34, Falcons 28 (Super Bowl LI)
- Cardinals 26, Packers 20 (2015 NFC Divisional Playoffs)
- Rams 54, Chiefs 51 (2018 Week 11)
- Seahawks 41, Saints 36 (2010 NFC Wild Card)
- 49ers 36, Saints 32 (2011 NFC Divisional Playoffs)
- Broncos 29, Steelers 23 (2011 AFC Wild Card)
- Eagles 41, Patriots 33 (Super Bowl LII)
- Broncos 51, Cowboys 48 (2013 Week 5)
How to stream NFL games with Plus
What follows is part one of an NFL+ review… of sorts.
To be clear, I’m not going to declare it the best NFL streaming service. That’s for you to decide.
Additionally, there also won’t be a grade or score. Those require a comparison to benchmarks established by peer apps, and Plus is unique. Nope, there’ll be just the facts, along with in-depth descriptions of its features.
These features will be broken down in accordance with the NFL+ website menu:
Games
To watch full game replays, first select a year (2009 – 2020) from the drop-down menu. Then choose either a pre-or regular-season week number, post season round, Pro Bowl, or Super Bowl from the ‘All Weeks’ menu:
After picking a game, you have 4 options:
- Listen – Audio-only full game broadcast.
- Full Replay – Replay of the entire game, sans commercials. Typical running time is about 2:15.
- Condensed Game – Full game replay without commercials, time outs, and pre-snap action; about 45 minutes from start to finish. The ‘View’ option on the lower left lets you watch 2 or 4 games simultaneously.
- Coaches Film – For fans who dream of becoming head coaches or coordinators, Coaches Film lets you view every play from All-22 camera angles. Since watching every single play is overkill for most people, you can select which plays to view from the upper-right menu:
NFL Shows
- Fantasy Live. Get the inside scoop and fantasy tips. 4 shows for each week of the regular season.
- Do Your Job. A featurette that analyzes a coaching staff’s game plans and philosophies.
- Good Morning Football. The NFL Network’s 3-hour talk show is trimmed to about 2:10 on NFL+
- NFL 360. Mini-documentary series featuring inspiring stories of “people and places that define the NFL”.
- All or Nothing. A series of films featuring behind-the-scenes looks during the course of an NFL team’s season.
- A Football Life. Hour-long documentaries of retired, high-profile players and coaches.
- America’s Game. Profiles the “journey to the Super Bowl for previous championship teams”.
- Hard Knocks. Reality show-type series with daily behind-the-scenes peeks into the lives of players, coaches, and their families during the preseason.
- Total Access. Latest news, information, & interviews of NFL players and teams.
- Sound FX . A “first-person perspective” via mic’d up players & coaches.
- Super Bowl Archives. How to stream NFL games and old Super Bowls? The ‘Archives’ feature includes 22 Super Bowls – ranging from I to XLIII – that aren’t part of the game replay library. Predictably, the video quality of some of the older games are diminished.
- The Timeline. Mini-documentaries with footage and story lines behind some of the most controversial NFL games of all time. Currently featured: The Ice Bowl, The Tuck Rule, and The Helmet Catch.
- The Top 100. Profiles the top 100 NFL players, 10 per episode.
- Undrafted. An inside look at the stories & lives of undrafted NFL hopefuls.
- Run It Back. A look at some not so famous games from the perspective of the show’s co-hosts.
- Director’s Cut Replay. Mixes replays with analytical commentary on the featured game’s key moments.
Film Session
These are 21.5 minute, in-depth discussions on the concepts & techniques of “the league’s best players and coaches”
Current offerings include Dalvin Cook, DaVante Adams, Ryan Tannehill, & George Kittle.
Search
One of the best features of Plus is the ability to search & sort by individual players. You can narrow your search by plays, downs, teams, weeks, and season. The ‘Plays’ search alone has 12 options:
Just click ‘Go’, and you have your 2019 Adam Thielen touchdown playlist:
Another click on the ‘film’ icon (circled), and…. Instant highlight reel!
Teams
The teams are sorted by conference (AFC/NFC). Selecting a team will yield 2 menu options:
- Games – watch replays of completed games, or preview upcoming ones.
- Shows – a list of all the shows that feature that team.
Is NFL+ the best streaming service for NFL games?
Once again, that’s for you to decide, because ‘best’ is what’s best for you.
But in the final analysis:
- NFL Plus isn’t a solution for live streaming.
- There are just 2 legitimate choices for watching out of market games: Plus and NFL Sunday Ticket.
- If you want to stream NFL football year round, NFL+ is your only option.