Connecticut's 5 Favorite NFL Stars: Not Much Love for the Locals

How popular is the NFL?

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Check out these numbers from Forbes about the 2023 Thanksgiving NFL games:

"The early afternoon game on Thanksgiving on Fox (Detroit vs. Green Bay), tallied an average audience of 33.7 million viewers. This became the most watched early Thanksgiving Day game ever, as well as a 6% increase from one year ago. The late afternoon game on Thanksgiving Day (Dallas vs. Washington), on CBS, generated an average audience of 41.8 million viewers, making it the second most watched regular season NFL game ever, surpassed only by last season’s late afternoon Thanksgiving game."

This is why streaming services are breaking their backs to get broadcast rights for these games, they generate huge numbers.

Connecticut's 5 Favorite NFL Stars: Not Much Love for the Locals

The NFL is a collective success but that unit is propped up by a foundation of individual stars and the league has many of them. But who is popular, where are they popular and why? For instance, I wanted to know who are the 5 most popular NFL athletes in the State of Connecticut? I found the answers but I was surprised there was not much love for the Jets, none for the Pats and zero for the Giants.

Gallery Credit: Lou Milano

My Top 5:

Maxx Crosby
Maxx Crosby
Maxx Crosby
Maxx Crosby
Maxx Crosby

For real:

Maxx Crosby
Deebo Samuel
Nick Bosa
Josh Allen
TJ Watt

Those choices are strictly for their style of play. Some guys work hard, some have more talent and then there is another more dangerous group that has the talent and works harder. I think those 5 dudes fit that category.

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Some of the NFL’s All-Time Most Feared Tough Guys – Part 1

Gallery Credit: Lou Milano

Some of the NFL’s All-Time Most Feared Tough Guys – Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, I featured John Lynch, Bill Romanowski, James Harrison, Maxx Crosby and Troy Polamalu. For part 2 I felt the need to go back a bit further for some of these players, guys I was not old enough to see play but I grew up reading about.

Gallery Credit: Lou Milano

Some of the NFL’s All-Time Most Feared Tough Guys – Part 3

I’ve been watching the NFL my whole life and while the game has changed drastically in my 42+ years, but one thing remains the same, you must be a “tough guy” to make it to the league. On that level of athleticism, all the players are strong and physical but some clearly are better than others. In parts 1 + 2, I highlighted John Lynch, Bill Romanowski, Troy Polomalu, James Harrison, Maxx Crosby, Reggie White, Earl Campbell, Mean Joe Greene, Mike Singletary and Brett Favre. The following are some of the players who go beyond, passing the eye test and were flat out scary on a football field. These are “Some of the NFL’s All-Time Most Feared Tough Guys – Part 3”

Gallery Credit: Lou Milano

Some of the NFL’s All-Time Most Feared Tough Guys – Part 4

Gallery Credit: Lou Milano

Danbury Area Folks Share Their NFL Fandom for Playoffs

I am an Oakland/LA/Las Vegas Raiders fan, and have been since I was a kid and I'm often outnumbered in NFL conversations, but not completely alone. In the NFL, there are fans of all kinds in every city in America.

Before the Raiders losing playoff game against the Bengals last weekend, I reached out to my friends who are Raiders fans and asked them to send me a photo of them wearing a jersey or celebrating the team in some way. I had a great response and it kicked off a fun sports conversation but it was for Raiders fans only.

I wanted to give the same opportunity to all NFL fans in the Greater-Danbury area, whether their team was in the playoffs or not. I sent out the call on my radio show and on social media and these are the responses I got back.

Gallery Credit: Lou Milano

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