NFL Network earned a 4.9 overnight Nielsen rating for last night's Jets-Broncos game that featured the Broncos winning on a last-minute touchdown. The game marks the third-best overnight for any game on the net since it began regular-season matchups in '06. Jets-Broncos trails only Cowboys-Saints from December '09 (5.9 rating) and Packers-Cowboys from November '07 (5.5 overnight). Compared to Bears-Dolphins in Week 11 last year, Jets-Broncos is up 26% from a 3.9 overnight (Austin Karp, THE DAILY). SI’s Richard Deitsch wrote on his Twitter feed during last night's game, “I'm not sure I can quantify with words how much better Mike Mayock is than Matt Millen and Joe Theismann.” FoxSports.com’s Jason Whitlock wrote, “Brad Nessler is great. Mike Mayock was awful. And not just awful bcuz he never figured out Jets out of timeouts.”
TOO MUCH, TOO SOON: Thursday's game in Denver came after the Jets played a Sunday night game at home last weekend, and Jets S Jim Leonhard said, "I don't think Thursday night games are good ever, let alone in a situation like this. A big thing going into the (NFL labor) talks this last time was player safety. You don't get much more unsafe than playing two games in five days or whatever." He added, "I get it. You can't tell me it's about anything other than money. It is not about anything other than being on TV and generating revenue" (N.Y. POST, 11/18).
NOTHIN' BUT A GOOD TIME: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Friday morning, and the net's Joe Kernen noted that the league is “scoring a ratings touchdown so far this season: Games on average [are] bringing in more than twice as many viewers as regular prime-time programs.” Kernen said of the highest-rated shows in ’11, “I wouldn't know what to do as a network executive because it's like 19 out of 20. NFL is delivering it. That's about it on network TV.” Goodell replied, “Joe, you're right, 18 of the top 20 shows have been NFL shows.” Goodell: “It's the magic of the game and it’s the passion and diversity of our fan base. They love football and our game is so unpredictable.” He added the “league is so competitive now” and “competitiveness is what fans want, the unpredictable nature of our game” ("Squawk Box," CNBC, 11/18).
LOCAL MARKETS: In Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley noted the Vikings-Packers "MNF" game "had the highest rating for a regular-season Packers telecast since" '97 (JSONLINE.com, 11/15)....In St. Louis, Dan Caesar notes Rams' games are averaging a 20.2 local rating in the market, marking the second-best average through nine games since '06, behind only last year's 25.0 rating at the same point (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 11/18).
