When Amazon Prime Video became an exclusive partner with the NFL in 2022 — the first time a streaming service received a full, exclusive package of NFL games — the buzzword in the sports media industry was “proof of concept.” Though Amazon had worked with NFL Network and Fox on “Thursday Night Football” starting in 2017, one of the biggest questions the streamer faced when it started its 11-year run as the exclusive broadcaster of TNF was whether it could handle the audience load. Would the streaming hold up? Would the product look and feel like an NFL broadcast? You can disagree on the choice of broadcasters, graphics, music — these are all subjective things. But what is not subjective is accessibility.

Amazon Prime Video’s NFL debut in September 2022 — an exciting 27-24 win for the Kansas City Chiefs over the Los Angeles Chargers — was a mix of beautiful images and mild anger over tech issues that dissipated very quickly through the opening weeks of the season. Sure, the broadcasters might have pushed hard to sell the audience the 20-year-old Mazda regarding the schedule, but the company passed the proof-of-concept test. My former colleague Bill Shea captured that opening broadcast, and today we don’t see discussions about buffering or tech issues about Amazon’s NFL presentation. Latency can be problematic for live sports if the stream is more than a few seconds behind the real-time action, but Amazon has been very good here.

This was all front of mind Friday as Netflix aired multiple hours of pro boxing from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Jake Paul and Mike Tyson were the headline act, and it was not a great moment for sporting excellence. The Paul-Tyson bout was horrible, and so was the streaming experience for many viewers. As my colleague Tess DeMeyer chronicled, viewers were plagued by frequent bouts of buffering and freezing. There were technical issues in the broadcast, with Evander Holyfield’s earpiece and Jerry Jones’ microphone malfunctioning during separate interviews. (As wryly noted on X by Fox Sports president of insights and analytics Mike Mulvihill, there was great irony in Jones’ praising Netflix’s future with the NFL as viewers experienced tech issues.)

Streaming issues of course vary depending on multiple factors, including internet connectivity. But there were loads of viewers who experienced problems Friday night, including The Athletic’s own media writer, Andrew Marchand, who updated his followers on Bluesky on the error message he was receiving.

Netflix has over 280 million subscribers in more than 190 countries including Canada, where I watched from Friday night. I struggled to get access to the streamer for a couple of minutes before the sensational Amanda Serrano-Katie Taylor bout (Serrano was robbed, it says here) and had moments of buffering throughout; I was clean for the whole Tyson-Paul event. Social media was lit with complaints. (The website Down Detector noted nearly 85,000 viewers logged problems with outages or streaming leading up to the fight, per the CBC.) It’s the worst kind of publicity for Netflix, which declined to comment. An NFL spokesperson had not responded as of publication.

This isn’t the first live sports rodeo for Netflix. It aired an F1-golf crossover event last November and a tennis match between Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal in March. Those were successful. What was a disaster was the live reunion in April 2023 to the conclusion of the fourth season of the reality dating show “Love Is Blind,” when users were unable to access the stream. Netflix issued an apology to viewers and an apology during an earnings call.

But the big one for Netflix is coming Christmas Day, given it landed exclusive rights to stream two NFL games — the Chiefs against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens versus the Houston Texans. The three-season deal also includes a game on Christmas Day in 2025 and 2026. The game production will not be an issue as CBS is handling that, and the NFL Network is charged with pregame, halftime and postgame coverage. Neither of those entities has a role in transmission and streaming; that’s on Netflix, and it’s under six weeks until kickoff.

The Tyson-Paul fight was ultimately sports entertainment. Even Netflix’s recent deal with WWE — paying more than $5 billion for exclusive rights to the long-running “Raw” franchise, along with other rights outside the U.S. — could be tagged as sports-adjacent given WWE falls under sports entertainment. But the NFL matters to those that fuel weekly sports consumption in North America, and these matchups would easily draw more than 25-plus million on a traditional outlet in the United States. The NFL desperately wants Netflix to work as a partner because Netflix represents a multiple-decade ATM for it. Netflix needs it to work because it sees advertising as part of its long-term ambition for sustainable earning sources, and live sports can be a driver there. The NFL has an international slate of games it can easily turn into a future media rights package, and you know it wants Netflix at the table for that. Netflix executives announced this week they had sold out of advertising inventory for the games. It’s a big deal in the sports business world.

The NFL wants to put on a show far more entertaining than Tyson-Paul, and you can be sure Friday night spooked league officials a bit. Given the trajectory of the four teams playing Christmas Day, the games are shaping up to be of serious consequence for playoff seeding. There is money and reputation at stake, and you don’t get a second chance at a first impression. Both entities will be crushed by NFL fans if Christmas brings buffering and dropped streams.

(Photo: Al Bello / Getty Images)

The Kansas City Chiefs are undefeated no more, as the Buffalo Bills delivered their first loss at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York on Sunday night, 30-21. 

Buffalo moves to 9-2 on the season, while the Chiefs are now 9-1, suffering their first loss since Christmas Day 2023.

The Bills knew that every Chiefs game this season had come down to the final minutes of the game, meaning “crunch time” had to see perfect execution from Josh Allen and the offense. 

Allen was up for the challenge, as he delivered back-to-back touchdown drives in the Bills’ final two possessions to ice the win. 

The first saw Curtis Samuel haul in a ball on a play where the Chiefs sent the house at Allen, and he ran it in untouched from 12 yards out to make it 23-14. 

CHIEFS’ HARRISON BUTKER’S INJURY SPARKS FEMINIST CELEBRATIONS AND TRUMP CABINET CONSPIRACIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

But Patrick Mahomes will never go away without a fight, as we’ve seen throughout his career. He responded with a 10-play, 70-yard touchdown drive where Noah Gray brought in his second touchdown of the game. 

With 7:53 left in the fourth quarter, and the Chiefs only down by two points, Allen knew he had to kill clock and get downfield to not only score, but keep the ball out of Mahomes’ hands with a chance to take the lead late once more. 

Allen dissected the Chiefs’ staunch defense, making sure to pick up key first downs to keep the chains and clock moving in the fourth quarter. A pivotal moment, though, came when Ty Johnson couldn’t pick up a first down on third-and-2 from the Kansas City 26-yard line, leaving head coach Sean McDermott with a big decision. 

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) is pressured by Buffalo Bills cornerback Taron Johnson (7) as he releases a pass in the second quarter at Highmark Stadium. (Mark Konezny-Imagn Images)

Does he keep the offense on the field and trust Allen picks up the first down, or kick the field goal and trust his defense can stop Mahomes from a game-winning touchdown. 

McDermott opted to go with his quarterback, and it was the right move as Allen not only picked up the first down but barreled his way into the end zone for a 26-yard run that sent the Bills Mafia ballistic in the stands. 

With the nine-point lead, Mahomes had just 1:14 left in the game to score twice, and he tried to force a pass to Travis Kelce on fourth-and-13. However, Terrel Bernard picked it off and stayed down on the turf to seal the win. 

Looking at the stat sheet, Allen threw for an efficient 27-of-40 for 262 yards with one toucheown and one interception, while rushing for a team-high 55 yards. James Cook also added the first two touchdowns for the Bills despite having just 20 yards on nine carries. 

And in a game where Keon Coleman and Dalton Kincaid were out for Buffalo, Khalil Shakir stepped up with eight catches for 70 yards, while Samuel had five for 58 yards. 

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) looks to throw the ball against the Kansas City Chiefs during the first half at Highmark Stadium. (Junfu Han/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images)

For the Chiefs, Mahomes had three touchdown passes, his first going to Xavier Worthy, who led the way with 61 yards on just four receptions. Mahomes was 23-of-33 for 196 yards and two interceptions. 

Kareem Hunt also had 60 yards on the ground on 14 carries, while Kelce had only two catches for eight yards. 

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They returned home from a three-game trip in a mini slump that left the Clippers seeking ways to break free of that malaise in which they lost all of those games.

They had left their home in Inglewood on a four-game winning streak, the Clippers feeling good with how they were playing.

But they lost their mojo and wanted to get it back.

They did Sunday night, the Clippers defeating the Utah Jazz 116-105 at Intuit Dome, and in the process they saw James Harden reach a career milestone.

With six minutes and nine seconds left in the first quarter, Harden drilled a three-pointer to break a tie with Ray Allen for the second-most in NBA history. Harden now has made 2,975 three-pointers over his 16-year career. He’s behind the leader, Golden State’s Stephen Curry (3,782), who will be in town Monday night with the Warriors to face the Clippers.

Harden finished with 20 points, going two-for-eight from three-point range, to go along with 11 assists.

The Clippers also got a lift from the return of center Mo Bamba, who had missed the first 13 games recovering from a left knee injury. Bamba was solid in his return, scoring nine points and grabbing eight rebounds in 15 minutes.

Ivica Zubac had a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds and Norman Powell had 19 points.

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue had mostly wanted his team to stay the course while in their funk, but he also wanted his group to clean up some things.

Lue wanted a better effort on the backboards, which the Clippers did by collecting 41 rebounds to match Utah’s total.

Lue wanted his team to take care of the basketball, which they did by turning the ball over just nine times.

It all led to the Clippers opening a 23-point lead and coasting in from there over a Jazz team with the worst record (3-10) in the Western Conference.

The Clippers did see their lead sliced to seven points with 3:18 left in the fourth quarter after Jordan Clarkson made a three-pointer, but they held on for the win.