Jerry Jones: No evidence Thursday football is 'inordinately challenging physically for players'

Unlike the players, Jones has no issue with playing football on Thursdays

Players hate Thursday-night football, and for obvious reasons: Three days off between games is untenable given the violent nature of the sport.

But the list of detractors does not include Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones, where Dallas has hosted a Thanksgiving Day game since 1966.

"Well, we've been playing on Thursdays with short weeks and long weeks for ever since I've been involved in the NFL," Jones told 105.3 the Fan, a CBS Sports Radio station in Dallas. "Nothing, not one shred of statistics show it to be a disadvantage, show it to be inordinately challenging physically for the players. We're the poster child of playing on Thursday [and] as a result what it does to the demand for players being rested or being healthy."

More from 105.3 The Fan's Mike Fisher:

NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills on Tuesday claimed that, over the past five years, the injury rate for Thursday football is actually lower than the injury rate for games played on other days of the week. Dr. Sills added that, of all intervals between games, the period of four days has resulted in the lowest number of injuries.

And while these numbers may very well be correct, the players tell a different story.

Following the Jets-Bills game in Week 9, Buffalo offensive lineman Richie Incognito said that Thursday games "suck" and it's "ridiculous" that the NFL puts them on the schedule. 

And here's Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin last Thursday.

"This s--- should be illegal," he said of Thursday-after-Sunday games. "It is not OK. It's not OK. You can quote me on that. This is not OK. ... Absolutely, guys do not have enough time to recover. You can't recover in four days."

Baldwin's remarks came shortly after the Seahawks beat the Cardinals in a game in which cornerback Richard Sherman was lost for the season with a torn Achilles tendon. Incidentally, Sherman spoke harshly about Thursday football last December, days before the Seahawks faced the Rams.

"Poopfest. It's terrible," Sherman said at the time. "We got home like 1 o'clock in the morning, something like that on Monday and then you've got to play again. Congratulations, NFL, you did it again. But they've been doing it all season, so I guess we're the last ones to get the middle finger."

Meanwhile, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is the latest to weigh in on what his colleagues have been saying every week for years.

"It's miserable, it's terrible, they need to get rid of this game I think," Roethlisberger said this week during an appearance on 93.7 The Fan, a CBS Sports Radio station in Pittsburgh. "Just play on Mondays and Sundays. It's so tough on guys, you're beat up, you're banged up. It's a very violent, physical game we play."

The Steelers host the Titans on Thursday.