PROS
Same-day access to all NFL regular season games Live feed of NFL preseason games Available on most devices & consoles Free trial and payment plans available Invaluable to fantasy football owners	Same-day access to playoff games & Super Bowl Zero commercial interruptions Instant access to the NFL Films archive Watch entire games in under 45 minutes DVR-like control of games and plays
Start your 100% free trial right nowl

CONS
Delayed access to regular season games, playoff games, and Super Bowl	Audio-only mode is not available for archived games

Reviewing NFL Game Pass features

This NFL Game Pass review is an in-depth analysis of what you can expect from the NFL's most affordable streaming service. I'll talk about all of the impressive things that Game Pass has to offer and, when appropriate, where it might be lacking.

Game Pass is chock-full of fantastic features that go beyond simply watching NFL game replays. I'll do a deep-dive into these components in the following sections. But first, here is a list of most notable features that you'll have access to as an NFL Game Pass subscriber.

The key features of NFL Game Pass in 2017

Click on any of these items to jump to a review of that feature:

Watch live, out-of-market preseason games

When it comes to watching preseason games, the vast majority of NFL fans are limited to watching their hometown teams and preseason games that are televised nationally.   Game Pass makes every out-of-network preseason game available to you in real time. 

For NFL fanatics, this is an ideal time to evaluate the talent on the teams of conference and division rivals.  For fantasy football owners, this provides a great way to appraise players that we might consider drafting in our fantasy football leagues.

Same-day replay of 2017 regular season games, playoff games, and Super Bowl

The one drawback of NFL Game Pass is that you don't have instant access to all regular season games for the current NFL season. But how many games can you reasonably watch at one time anyway?

Although you don't have instant access to games, Game Pass does provide same-day access to all regular season games, playoff games, and the Super Bowl.

How quickly will you get access to games?

• Sunday morning and afternoon games (8:30am CST, 12pm CST, & 3pm CST) will be available by 7PM CST on Sunday evening
• Sunday evening, Monday evening, Thursday evening, and Saturday games will be available as soon as the game ends
• If you are currently using your NFL Game Pass Free Trial, Thursday nights will not be available until 72 hours after the game

If you're like me and this sounds like an insanely fair deal, try Game Pass for free .

Watch entire games in under 45 minutes using Condensed Mode

Do you love NFL football but hate the commentating and dead time between plays? Condensed Games allow you to watch all of the real action (from snap to tackle) in around 45 minutes. 

If you're in a hurry or just want to get the full game experience in as little time as possible, you'll really enjoy this feature of Game Pass. This is also an efficient way to evaluate fantasy football talent if you plan on watching multiple games in one sitting.

To watch a game in condensed format, simply click the Condensed button on the target game.

Coaches Film view introduces two new angles for every NFL play

NFL Game Pass recently added a Coaches Film feature that adds two new viewing angles for every down played.  You'll have access to the same film perspective that coaches, GMs, and commentators use to take in all of the action.

The two new viewing angles are called All-22 and Endzone angles.

• All-22 Angle - This angle positions the camera high above the field, ensuring all 22 players are in the view throughout the play
• High Endzone Angle - A high angle from the above the goal post on the defensive side of the ball

Coaches Film can be activated from within the game viewer interface.  If you begin watching a game in this mode, you'll see each play replayed twice in succession.  First, it will be displayed in the All-22 angle, then again in the High Endzone angle (with the offense facing the camera).

All-22 Angle vs High Endzone Angle

The two images below illustrate the viewing angles available using the Coaches View feature. As you can see, these two new perspectives are great for evaluating players that are close to the play as well as DBs that are far from the ball.

With these two angles you won't miss a thing. Check it out for yourself.

All-22 Angle

High Endzone Angle

Curate playlists based on a wide range of game search criteria

The Search Plays feature of Game Pass is literally a search engine for NFL games.  You can watch specific plays or create playlists based on search results.  When searching games you can specify the following search criteria:

1. Player Name
2. Type of Play (Big Plays, Passing Plays, Running Plays, etc)
3. Downs (1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th Down)
4. Teams
5. Weeks
6. Season

How to create a playlist for a specific player

Let's say I'm evaluating a player for my 2017 fantasy football draft: New Orleans Saint Michael Thomas.  Specifically, I want to view all passing plays involving Michael Thomas for the 2016 season.  In this scenario, I'd configure the following filters: 

• Players: "Michael Thomas"
• Teams: New Orleans Saints (b/c there are more than one 'Michael Thomas" in the NFL
• Plays: "Passing Plays" (I don't want to see plays where he ran the ball)

The search results contain every passing play involving New Orleans Saint Michael Thomas.  From here you can either watch a specific play or watch the search results as a playlist by clicking the film icon (circled in the image below).  Plays in a playlist will be shown in chronological order.

If you're a fantasy football owner looking to gain an edge, you should be able to see how powerful a feature like this can be. Just search for the players you'd like to evaluate, start a playlist, and start taking notes. Very cool.

The preseason is the perfect time to try out Game Pass Fantasy football drafts are right around the corner!

Access to NFL game archives as far back as 2011

Accessing game replays is as simple as selecting the desired NFL season and target week. Every game is available, from the preseason through the Super Bowl.

The games you request will appear in a grid, but initially without the final score displayed.

 If you enable the "Scores" setting, the games displayed will show the final score and the winning team will be highlighted.

Listen to audio versions of games instead of streaming video

Back in 2015, Game Pass was merged with NFL Audio Pass, a service that allows you to access game archives strictly in audio format.  If you like to listen to games while you're running or working out, this will allow you to listen to games while using only a fraction of the bandwidth required to stream game video.

To listen to the audio of an archived game, simply hover over the target game and click on the Listen button.

With HomeTown Audio you can hear games called by your hometown announcers

Any football fan can tell you that games as so much more enjoyable when they are called by your hometown commentators. In addition to hearing the voices and personalities that you're accustomed to, hometown broadcasts normally include sideline reports and player updates that don't make it to the televised broadcast.

When listening to any game in audio format, you are presented with the option to listen to the broadcast from the Home or Away team's perspective. Simply choose the option relevant to your team and you'll enjoy the full game audio from your favorite hometown personalities.

Who would benefit the most from a Game Pass subscription?

Game Pass isn't for everyone. Some people need the instant gratification of watching every game live. Unfortunately for these fans, they'll have to pay-up for an expensive service like NFL Sunday Ticket.

So what kind of NFL fan would benefit the most from a service like Game Pass ?

NFL fanatics who simply can't get enough

For the NFL fan who loves keeping up with all of the action across the entire league, you can't get much better than Game Pass. The ability to watch condensed actions means you can practically watch every game every week.

Fantasy football owners who want to do their own scouting

The ability to watch live preseason games means fantasy football owners can actively scout before their fantasy draft. The two additional viewing angles provided by Coaches Film make it easier than ever to evaluate players on your draft board.

Once the seasons starts, you can continue to scout players on your league's waiver wire. The Play Search feature allows you to isolate those plays that involve a specific player, making it much easier to evaluate and prioritize your waiver requests each week.

People who work during NFL broadcast times

If you are an NFL fan but work a Sunday afternoon or night shift, you're unfortunately going to miss the vast majority of games each NFL season. If you find yourself in this predicament, NFL Game Pass could definitely the answer.

If you plan on watching multiple games after the fact, you can even turn off scoreboard notifications during the replays. This way, you won't see the scores for those games before you get a chance to watch their replay.

Conclusion

For the price, NFL Game Pass provides incredible value. This is especially true when you compare it much more expensive packages like NFL Sunday Ticket. Even the most hardcore fans can't watch every game in the NFL at that same time. Game Pass allows you to watch completed games when, where, and how you want. That's definitely worth the price of admission.