PRIME VIDEO'S USE OF AI, NEXT GEN STATS ON NFL GAMES IS HELPING VIEWERS UNDERSTAND THE GAME BETTER

The Los Angeles Rams defense appeared to be content to drop back in coverage and prevent San Francisco's Brock Purdy from completing a Hail Mary on the final play of their Thursday night game on Dec. 12.

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The broadcast on Amazon Prime Video saw it differently, though.

Before Purdy snapped the ball, a defensive alert appeared on the screen, indicating that Rams inside linebacker Christian Rozeboom could rush the quarterback. Sure enough, Rozeboom came in on a rush and sacked Purdy for a 6-yard loss to end the game.

Besides the Rams celebrating, Prime Video's “Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats” production crew were exchanging high fives.

As Prime Video wraps up its third season doing NFL games with an AFC wild-card matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens on Saturday night, the “Prime Vision” feed and use of Artificial Intelligence (Al) in the broadcasts continue to change the way football fans are able to analyze and understand the game.

Prime Video senior coordinating producer Alex Strand said one of the guiding tenants in the streamer’s NFL coverage has been trying to simplify the complex strategies that happen during games.

“It doesn’t matter how many years of football experience you have, we can’t do what Al can do,” he said. “In the case of defensive alerts, all we’re doing is putting a single red circle on a player. A diehard may look at that and see the safeties crashing or the corners indicating they’re going to come. Someone who might not know the game as well might see the red circle and say, ‘Look here, something might happen,’ and they see the corner blitz, and it’s amazing.”

Defensive Alerts is in its second season and also featured on the main “Thursday Night Football” broadcast. It tracks the movement of players prior to the snap and identifies potential blitzers. Via machine learning and custom logic, a highlighted red circle appears under what is considered a potential pass rusher.