Marco Rubio wants to watch the NFL on Sundays and not be reminded about politics ... but, right now, he says he's upset he can't -- telling TMZ Sports, "I wish sports were just about sports."
The league is embattled in national anthem policy issues (still) ... and, while the Florida Senator says he's all for players' rights to protest -- he wants it out of game days.
"Personally, I wish there was a place where we could go on Sundays in the Fall and kind of get away from politics for three hours," he says.
"That's how most people feel about it."
Rubio's solution to the problem??
"I don't know what the right answer is," he says. "We got our hands full here!"