NFL Again Moves Season-Ending NFC East Clash From Fox To NBC

The NFL has moved the Week 17 Cowboys-Redskins game, which will decide the winner of the NFC East, to NBC's "Sunday Night Football" as part of the league's flex scheduling component. The Dolphins-Patriots game has been moved to 4:25pm ET on CBS, while Packers-Vikings -- highlighted by Adrian Peterson's attempt to break the record for single-season rushing yards -- will air at 4:25pm on Fox. Most markets will get an afternoon doubleheader on both CBS and Fox (NFL). In Dallas, Barry Horn wrote officials at NBC "are beaming" from the move, while Fox execs "are steaming." This marks the second straight season the NFL "has handed the NFC East title game to Sunday Night Football, leaving the Foxies wondering what the network of the NFC has to do to get the conference's ultimate regular-season game in its prime late Sunday afternoon time slot." The Packers-Vikings game includes a "wild-card spot at stake for the Vikings" in addition to Peterson's pursuit of Pro Football HOFer Eric Dickerson's record, but that is "hamburger compared with the prime cut the NFL served up to its favorite prime-time partner" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 12/24).

16 CANDLES: Fox led all Week 16 NFL broadcasts with a 17.0 overnight rating for the Ravens’ rout of the Giants in the Sunday NFL national window. That figure is up 16% from a 14.7 overnight for the comparable Week 16 national window last year, which featured Eagles-Cowboys. Fox also saw an increase for its regional window (+15%). Meanwhile, NBC earned a 12.6 overnight for the Seahawks' blowout win over the 49ers on “SNF,” giving the net a win for the night in primetime. The 12.6 overnight is flat compared to Christmas night broadcast of Bears-Packers in Week 16 last year. 49ers-Seahawks earned a 34.2 local rating in the Seattle-Tacoma market and a 23.7 rating in the S.F.-Oakland-San Jose market. CBS earned an 11.6 overnight for its singleheader coverage, up 32% from last year (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).

NFL WEEK 16 OVERNIGHT NIELSEN RATINGS
NET	'12 GAME	RAT.	'11 GAME	RAT.	% +/-
CBS	(single)	11.6	(single)	8.8	31.8%
Fox	(regional)	10.6	(regional)	9.2	15.2%
Fox	Giants-Ravens (83%)	17.0	Eagles-Cowboys (88%)	14.7	15.6%
NBC	49ers-Seahawks	12.6	Bears-Packers	12.6	0.0%

THE SEASON OF GIVING PRAISE: In Denver, Dusty Saunders wrote CBS analyst Dan Fouts "gets better with age." Fouts' experience as an NFL QB showed in Week 16 as he "often reacted as though he were in the Denver huddle" during the Browns-Broncos game. Meanwhile, Ian Eagle, Fouts' broadcast partner, is an "underrated, versatile broadcaster" who has a "concise style, free of the extraneous dialogue so prevalent in many NFL play-by-play men" (DENVER POST, 12/24). In Baltimore, David Zurawik wrote it was a "pleasure ... to get the first team from Fox for the telecast of a Ravens game rather than the second or third crew from CBS" for the team's game Sunday against the Giants. The camera work "was sharp, focused and engaging," and the replays were "downright stunning." The net "seemed to have three and even four angles on almost every replay." Zurawik: "The entire production was on another planet compared to CBS. ... The field level, end zone cameras shot up into the stands and the lights and the Baltimore night making you feel as if you were standing on the field at M&T Bank Stadium" (BALTIMORESUN.com, 12/23).

FATHER KNOWS BEST: USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand noted Fox studio analyst Howie Long "rarely mentions" his son, Rams DE Chris Long, while on air. Long "doesn't like talking about his son's play publicly, to the point that some viewers might forget he has a son playing in the NFL." Long: "I've always purposely stayed away from that. My concern is that it would become all about me" (USA TODAY, 12/24).

NOT READY FOR PRIMETIME PLAYERS: In Detroit, Gene Myers noted the 4-11 Lions played four primetime games this season, but they will finish "with double-digit losses (for the 10th time in 12 seasons) and football teams with double-digit losses rarely land on the NBC and ESPN prime-time telecasts." Ten teams lost at least 10 games last season, and "none was scheduled for a Sunday nighter." The Panthers and Redskins were the only such teams "scheduled for a Monday nighter," but that was at least partly due to the presence of QBs Cam Newton and Robert Griffin III, respectively (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 12/23).