NFL Wild Card Overnights: Fox Leads With Seahawks-Skins; NBC Flat For Saturday

Fox’ Seahawks-Redskins game yesterday led all NFL Wild card telecasts over the weekend with a 23.7 overnight Nielsen rating. That figure is up from the net’s Falcons-Giants game in the early window last year (+25%), but down from the Broncos' OT win over the Steelers in the late window on CBS last year. Seahawks-Redskins earned a 50.2 local rating in DC, marking the net’s best playoff rating in the market on record. CBS’ Ravens-Colts game in the early window yesterday earned a 19.7 overnight, up from Fox’ early window last year, but down compared to Broncos-Steelers. On Saturday, NBC earned a 17.2 overnight for its Wild Card doubleheader. The early window featuring Texans-Bengals earned a 16.2 overnight, up 6% from the same matchup last year. In the primetime window, Packers-Vikings earned an 18.3 overnight, down 5% from Saints-Lions (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).

NFL WILD CARD WEEKEND OVERNIGHT NIELSEN RATINGS
NET	TIME (ET)	'13 GAME	RAT.	NET	'12 GAME	RAT.	% +/-
NBC	4:00pm	Bengals-Texans	16.2	NBC	Texans-Bengals	15.3	5.9%
NBC	8:30pm	Packers-Vikings	18.3	NBC	Saints-Lions	19.3	-5.2%
CBS	1:00pm	Ravens-Colts	19.7	Fox	Giants-Falcons	18.9	4.2%
Fox	4:30pm	Seahawks-Redskins	23.7	CBS	Broncos-Steelers	25.9	-8.5%

QUOTH THE RAVENS: In Baltimore, David Zurawik wrote the "big story was the 'last ride' in Baltimore" for Ravens LB Ray Lewis, and the "performance of CBS Sports Sunday should first and last be judged by how it covered that story." CBS was "absolutely on it coming into the game." But CBS "missed way too much of another huge storyline: The fans of Baltimore bidding an emotional farewell to a beloved and honored athlete." The net "truly fell down on covering this story during the last four minutes of the game." Zurawik: "And I will be honest about it, that failure left me with a bad taste in my mouth for the entire telecast. A really bad taste." Yesterday was "as much about us as it was Lewis -- and CBS never got that right." CBS did play some "decent catch-up getting a post-game interview with Lewis and tailing him around the field for his final lap of love at M&T Bank Stadium, but for my money, it was too little and too late." Zurawik wrote of CBS announcers Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, "I have generally said nice things over the years about both of them. But I truly lost some respect Sunday" (BALTIMORESUN.com, 1/6).

MIKE CHECK: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes NBC analyst Mike Mayock "would not, could not clam up for even a second throughout Saturday’s Bengals-Texans game." Mushnick: "Two dropped passes in the first few minutes led to three Mayock lectures on the easy and self-evident." Meanwhile, Mushnick writes Simms "remains the only NFL analyst who regularly uses replays to correct himself rather than to affirm his original, wrong call" (N.Y. POST, 1/7).