American Football: Quarterback star runs to record at Netflix NFL premiere

The first NFL evening on the streaming provider Netflix offered a great sports spectacle at Christmas. Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens led his team to an easy 31-2 win over the Houston Texans on Christmas Day. Both teams had previously qualified for the playoffs.

Jackson became the quarterback with the most yards in NFL history. After 87 rushing yards in Houston, Jackson now has a total of 6,110 yards and is exactly one ahead of Michael Vick (formerly with the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles, among others). With the clear success, the 27-year-old Jackson gave a sample of his skills: The most valuable player of the previous season ran 48 yards for a touchdown and also had two touchdown passes.

Beyoncé takes over the halftime show

The Netflix package also included a performance by US musician Beyoncé (43) during the half-time break in her hometown. The superstar rode into the Texans stadium on a white horse and performed a show that lasted more than ten minutes.

Chiefs are confirmed as the top seed in the AFC

In the first NFL game on Netflix, champions Kansas City Chiefs celebrated a clear victory. The team around star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, which has long since qualified for the playoffs, won 29:10 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

For the Chiefs it was the 15th win in the 16th game of the season, in which Mahomes set the tone early with a touchdown pass to Xavier Worthy. In the end, the 29-year-old quarterback recorded three touchdown passes and threw for a total of 320 yards.

Travis Kelce creates history

Travis Kelce caught eight passes for 84 yards, becoming just the third tight end in NFL history to catch at least 1,000 passes. Previously, only Tony Gonzalez (Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons) and Jason Witten (Dallas Cowboys and Las Vegas Raiders) had achieved this. Kelce, 35, sealed the Chiefs’ fifth straight win with a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

Netflix and sports rights

Netflix paid the NFL $150 million for the broadcast rights to the two games on Christmas Day. Netflix will also show games at Christmas next year. In Germany, the NFL games are otherwise broadcast on RTL.

Netflix is ​​noticeably expanding its sports offering. The 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups will be broadcast exclusively on the streaming provider in the USA. According to the company, around 60 million households worldwide tuned in for the show fight between former boxing world champion Mike Tyson and Jake Paul in mid-November. However, the streaming giant subsequently had to admit transmission problems.

Netflix has also invested a lot of money in sports documentaries such as “The Last Dance” about basketball icon Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, “Tour de France”, “Break Point” and “Formula 1: Drive to Survive”.