Something Wild: Ratings Down For NFL's Opening Playoff Weekend

Overnight Nielsen ratings were down for three of the four NFL Wild Card games this weekend. The chart below lists overnights for all four games (THE DAILY).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: NBC earned a combined 16.1/28 overnight rating for the two games, the best rating for Wild Card Saturday since ABC earned a 16.5/28 for a doubleheader featuring Rams-Seahawks and Jets-Chargers in '05.  The Redskins-Seahawks was the best for an afternoon Wild Card game on a Saturday since Redskins-Buccaneers earned a 15.7/30 in ’06. . NBC averaged a 15.8/25 for Jaguars-Steelers from 8:00-11:00pm ET, the highest metered-market primetime average for any broadcast network on any night since the May 23, 2007, "American Idol" finale. NBC outscored the other three broadcast networks combined in metered-market household averages in primetime Saturday night. (NBC).

TAYLOR MADE: USA TODAY’s Michael McCarthy writes Dolphins DE Jason Taylor “was so smooth and knowledgeable” during his appearance on NBC’s “Football Night In America” pregame show that co-host Keith Olbermann joked to Bob Costas, “You and I are in big trouble” (USA TODAY, 1/7).

OUT OF RAM: In St. Louis, Dan Caesar reported the Rams drew just 19.8% of local HHs for the team's 13 televised games this year, a 12% drop from '06 and down 40% from a team-record 33 rating in '03.  Three of the team's home games were blacked out and therefore were not shown locally (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 1/5).