Sunday night's Cowboys-Giants game on NBC earned a 17.1 overnight Nielsen rating, the highest overnight in the six-year history of "SNF." The rating was 1% higher than the previous best "SNF" overnight, a 16.9 for Cowboys-Jets in Week One this season. The 17.1 is up 36% from last year's Week 17 Rams-Seahawks game, which earned a 12.6. This is also the best overnight for any primetime NFL game on Sunday or Monday since a Broncos-Dolphins contest on ABC earned a 17.4 in '98. CBS earned a 16.1 overnight rating for its late-window coverage, which featured Chiefs-Broncos in 68% of the country, up 43.8% from the comparative coverage in '10. The net's early-window regional coverage drew a 10.6 overnight, up from a 9.5 overnight during Week 17 last year. Fox saw its late-window coverage, highlighted by the Falcons' blowout of the Buccaneers in 89% of the country, earn a 11.9 overnight rating, down 27.9% from the '10 mark of 16.5. The early-window regional coverage drew a 6.0 overnight, down 52% from Week 17 in '10 (THE DAILY).
THUMBS UP TO CBS: In Baltimore, David Zurawik wrote CBS’ coverage of the Ravens-Bengals game on Sunday was “solid,” and the production and “direction were as good as I have seen on CBS this year.” Zurawik: “I didn’t see the CBS cameras fooled badly once Sunday. And I have to say, they captured every important play from several angles, and had them up in replay within seconds to give viewers more than one point of view on crucial calls. The direction was so focused and sure-handed that I thought I was watching NBC’s ‘Sunday Night Football’ at times.” He added the producers “went the extra mile to line up some good-looking video and live images of Cincinnati to use when going to and coming out of commercials.” CBS’ Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts “were mainly OK -- well, up until the final minute” (Baltimore SUN, 1/2). In Tampa Bay, Tom Jones wrote while he will flip off of ESPN's "Sunday Countdown" and Fox' "Fox NFL Sunday" pregame shows, “I almost never turn away from CBS's ‘NFL Today.’” The show has “finally found its stride with this winning formula: have outstanding host (James Brown) introduce a topic and let the four analysts (Shannon Sharpe, Dan Marino, Bill Cowher and Boomer Esiason) go at it.” Jones: “Everyone gets a chance to talk. They don't talk over one another. There is no horsing around or needless yelling. It's all just good solid football talk. The best part is all four analysts speak with authority, intelligence and credibility” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 1/2).
TALENT REVIEWS: The TAMPA BAY TIMES' Jones wrote Fox’ John Lynch is a “good analyst,” but during Sunday’s Buccaneers-Falcons game he “needed to be a little more vocal” about the future of the Bucs’ organization. Jones: “Specifically, which people should be in charge of that future. He was too wishy-washy on coach Raheem Morris' future, saying it was essentially up to [team owners] the Glazers. That wasn't good enough” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 1/2). In Denver, Dusty Saunders wrote CBS’ Jim Nantz and Phil Simms “provided decent coverage Sunday,” as did NFL Network’s Scott Hanson, who was “anchoring coverage on the RedZone” (DENVER POST, 1/2).
