NFL News and Notes: Top headlines for Thursday, Oct. 19

From a highly anticipated Thursday Night Football battle to the latest headlines from around the NFL, ‘News and Notes’ has you covered.

Another day, another set of NFL News and Notes for fans to chew on. Each weekday, we’ll go around the league and attempt to highlight the biggest and most important stories of the day. From there, we’ll provide a bit of analysis as to what these stories mean, what’s next, and so on.

Week 7 of the 2017 season officially gets underway on Thursday night, and that’s where we’ll start with the top headlines for Thursday, Oct. 19.

Thursday Night Football: Raiders vs. Chiefs 

In an AFC West showdown, the Oakland Raiders (2-4) host the Kansas City Chiefs (5-1) tonight in what could be considered a must-win for the underachieving Raiders, who were a chic Super Bowl pick back in August.

If Oakland is to get back on track, however, they must buck a troubling recent trend against Kansas City that has seen them lose five consecutive match-ups and seven of its last eight games to the Chiefs.

Last week, Kansas City dropped its first outing of the year in a 19-13 home loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Raiders — after starting 2-0 — have been defeated in four consecutive games. NFL.com has a nice video preview of the divisional battle here while CBS Sports has their own look at the Thursday Night Football battle.

Meanwhile, ESPN’s Adam Schefter had what could be a harbinger of good things to come for the Chiefs tonight:

NFL TV Ratings down locally, nationally

Other than an increase in games being streamed, NFL TV ratings are down across the board, according to a very detailed new report from MMBQ’s Albert Breer. Among a plethora of other things, Breer’s report shows that:

• The NFL’s average household rating is down from this time a year ago and down even further from the 2013-2015 numbers.
• 25 of 31 teams are drawing lower home market ratings than they did a year ago, with the Los Angeles Chargers exempted from this status due to it being their first season in their new home city.

According to CNBC, the declining television ratings has Wall Street befuddled.

Ezekiel Elliott settlement discussion

Per this report from the Dallas Morning News‘ SportsDay, the NFL and Dallas Cowboys star running back Ezekiel Elliott have discussed the possibility of a settlement and some sort of compromise related to Elliott’s still unserved six-game suspension. If a settlement is indeed reached, the number of games Elliott ultimately has to sit out could potentially be reduced.

Elliott will play at least the next two weeks for Dallas.

Jaguars owner speaks on President Trump 

In an interview with Jarrett Bell of USA Today, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan says he believes — among other things — that President Donald Trump has personal issues with the NFL stemming from his failed attempt to purchase the Buffalo Bills in 2014.

According to a report shared at Business Insider, Khan is not the only owner who feels Trump holds hard feelings towards the league over his unsuccessful bid to buy the Bills.

First-and–10 For Week 7

Albert Breer analyzes ten key topics heading into Week 7 — including Carson Wentz, Andrew Luck and Joe Flacco — in this feature for si.com.

Next: NFL: 5 Teams on upset alert in Week 7

Streaming NFL games still stinks

Jacob Feldman explains why he isn’t yet a big fan of streaming NFL games in this feature for Sports Illustrated. Even with its current imperfections, this piece at USA Today suggests that streaming offers the NFL hope in trying to counteract diminishing TV ratings.