Marco Rubio wants to watch the NFL on Sundays and not be reminded about politics ... but right now, he says he's upset that 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.