Fox led all Sunday NFL game windows with a 14.9 overnight Nielsen rating for its singleheader coverage, marking the net's best singleheader window in 12 years, dating back to a 15.2 overnight in Week Seven of the '99 season. The window was also up 25.2% from CBS' singleheader last year. CBS’ national window featuring Broncos-Packers earned 13.6 overnight, down 14.5% from a 15.9 rating for Fox’ comparable Week Four national window last year, which featured Redskins-Eagles. CBS’ regional window earlier in the day earned a 9.3 overnight, flat compared to ’10. NBC saw its overnight audience down for the Jets-Ravens “SNF” game. The telecast earned a 12.7 overnight, down 10.6% from Bears-Giants in '10. However, the game still led NBC to a win among all nets in primetime last night. Baltimore led all markets with a 38.8 local rating, while N.Y. finished 11th with a 15.4 rating (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
| OVERNIGHT RATINGS FOR NFL WEEK FOUR SUNDAY TELECASTS |
| NET | '11 TELECAST | RAT. | '10 NET | '10 TELECAST | RAT. | % +/- |
| Fox | (single) | 14.9 | CBS | (single) | 11.9 | 25.2% |
| CBS | (regional) | 9.3 | Fox | (regional) | 9.3 | 0.0% |
| CBS | Broncos-Packers (59%) | 13.6 | Fox | Redskins-Eagles (94%) | 15.9 | -14.5% |
| NBC | Jets-Ravens | 12.7 | NBC | Bears-Giants | 14.2 | -10.6% |
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PROFESSIONAL JOB: In Baltimore, David Zurawik writes NBC’s "SNF" crew was "textbook in showing how to do a winning telecast.” Producer Fred Gaudelli and his crew “did so many little things so well that from the pre-game straight through the first half, it seemed as if there was something special happening almost every minute.” Zurawik: “What a pleasure to see and hear play-by-play man Al Michaels and analyst Cris Collinsworth focus our attention in all the right places before and right after the opening kickoff” (Baltimore SUN, 10/3).
THE BEST COVERING THE BEST: In Denver, Dusty Saunders wondered why CBS' top announcing team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms called Broncos-Packers yesterday, noting that “logic might dictate that the Patriots-Raiders clash in Oakland, competing on the late network schedule, would be a logical choice because it was more of a marquee attraction.” However, the assignment "was based on the fact that the Packers-Broncos clash gave the network an opportunity to cover the champions, who play most of their NFL schedule on Fox” (DENVER POST, 10/3).
SUNDAY'S STAR: In St. Petersburg, Tom Jones writes Fox' Terry Bradshaw was the "television MVP of the weekend," as he "took two topics that have been beaten to death and came up with two new theories that make lots of sense.” Bradshaw spoke about “the gunslinger style of Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo” and “the controversy of Eagles quarterback Michael Vick being hit so often” (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 10/3).
