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Coming off their first two preseason wins, the New England Patriots will look to continue their momentum on Friday night when they face the Carolina Panthers at the Bank of America Stadium.
The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. ET. If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, here’s a rundown of all your live stream options, which vary depending on if the game is televised in your market or not:
If The Game is Televised in Your Market
First, check to see what local channel the game is on in your area–it will be either ABC, CBS, CW, Fox or NBC. Then, if you sign up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services, you’ll be able to watch a live stream of your desired channel.
For example, for fans in Boston, where the game is on CBS, Amazon Prime is your best option. But if you’re in Raleigh/Durham, where the game is on ABC, Hulu with Live TV would be the best way to watch the game.
Here’s a rundown of all the streaming services, what they include, and how to sign up and watch (note that local channels are available live in select markets):
Local channels included: CBS
If you have Amazon Prime or want to start a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, you can watch all CBS content (both live and on-demand) via the CBS Amazon Channel, which also comes with a 7-day free trial.
Once you’re signed up for both Amazon Prime and the CBS channel, you can then watch a live stream of your local CBS channel on your computer via the Amazon website, or you can watch on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Amazon Video app.
Local channels included: ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, NBC
In addition to its massive Netflix-like library of on-demand movies and TV shows, Hulu also offers a bundle of 50-plus live TV channels, which includes ABC, CBS, CW, Fox and NBC. You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch a live stream of any of those channels on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Hulu app.
If you can’t watch the game live, “Hulu with Live TV” also comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials).
Local channels included: CBS, CW, Fox, NBC
A streaming service that is largely tailored towards sports fans, FuboTV includes CBS, CW, Fox and NBC. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial right here, and you can then watch a live stream of those channels on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the FuboTV app.
If you can’t watch the game live, FuboTV also comes with 30 hours of Cloud DVR (with the ability to upgrade to 500 hours), as well as a “72-Hour Lookback” feature, which allows you to watch games and shows up to three days after they air even if you forgot to record them. The main FuboTV channel package also comes with NFL Network, which will air a replay of every preseason game.
Local channels included: Fox, NBC
Fox and NBC are both included in the “Sling Blue” channel package. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial, and you can then watch a live stream of either channel on your computer via the Sling website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Sling TV app.
If you can’t watch live, you can get 50 hours of cloud DVR storage as an additional add-on. “Sling Blue” also comes with the NFL Network, which will air a replay of every preseason game, so you can also watch that way if you miss it live.
If The Game is Not Televised in Your Market
You can watch every out-of-market preseason NFL game online via NFL Game Pass, which costs $99.99 for the season (or four installments of $29.99). Once signed up, you can watch games on your computer via the Game Pass website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the NFL app.
Game Preview
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady told the Boston Herald that the team have spent most of the week watching footage of the Panthers and prepping a game plan.That said, head coach Bill Belichick said that their game-planning is nowhere near what it will be during the regular season. “Not even close,” he revealed.
“We’ll have to cover against what we’ve seen Carolina do and what their basic fronts and coverages and blitzes are, their basic formations and personnel groups and basic concept of plays,” he added. “So, we’ll work on those, but we’re not going to put in a lot of plays specific for what they do, which we would absolutely do during the regular season.”
Conversely, the Panthers will base the playing time of their starters on how the game plays out. “We will have to look at what is happening in the game. I don’t want to get ahead of that stuff,” said head coach Ron Rivera. “We’ve talked about how we can protect and the things that we can do to help. And we will see what happens. We’ll see as the game develops. Ideally, we’d like to take our starters into the third quarter. Let them come out from halftime after we’ve gone through adjustments.”
According to the Charlotte Observer, Rivera has referred to tonight’s game as a “dress rehearsal” for the regular season. Thomas Davis, the team’s veteran linebacker, will sit out the first four games of the regular season due to an NFL-mandated suspension, but Rivera is hopeful of the impact he’ll make once he’s back on the field.
“If you get a chance to watch through the whole practice, you’ll see that he’s gone from full-time reps with the ones to part-time to even less,” he said. “That’s the hard part, obviously, because Thomas is really integral to what we do, but we also are being realistic that Shaq has to be ready to go, David Mayo has to get ready to go. We’ve got some young guys who have to get ready to go.”