ESPN drew an 8.7 overnight rating for the Steelers’ win over the Texans on “MNF” last night from 8:15-11:45pm ET, down 8% from a 9.5 overnight for the Giants’ 23-7 win over the Vikings in Week 7 last year. Neither game had competition from MLB postseason coverage. The game last night peaked at a 10.1 rating from 9:45-10:00pm. In Pittsburgh, the game earned a combined 38.5 local rating (10.8 on ESPN, 27.8 on WTAE-ABC). The game also earned a 27.3 local rating in Houston (14.3 on ESPN, 13.0 on KIAH-CW) (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
POCKET PROTECTION: ESPN's Adam Schefter reported CBS and Fox have "submitted their list of protected games to the NFL for Weeks 11-16." Colts-Cowboys in Week 16 was one game CBS "was unwilling to part with," while Fox "protected a number of games." There were no games protected pitting NFC East teams against each other "in Weeks 14, 15 and 16" ("Monday Night Countdown," ESPN, 10/20).
|
PROTECTED GAMES
|
| |
CBS |
FOX |
| Week 11 |
None |
Eagles-Packers |
| Week 12 |
Dolphins-Broncos |
None |
| Week 13 |
Patriots-Packers |
Saints-Steelers |
| Week 14 |
Steelers-Bengals |
Seahawks-Eagles |
| Week 15 |
Broncos-Chargers |
49ers-Seahawks |
| Week 16 |
Colts-Cowboys |
Lions-Bears |
MORNING GLORY: WFAN-AM's Joe Benigno said it is a "joke" for the NFL to play games in London, but "they finally got one right this week." Lions-Falcons at Wembley Stadium is going to be played "in the afternoon in London, which means it's going to be on TV ... at 9:00am on Fox." Benigno: "That's the way to do it. You don't play the game at night and it's a regular 1:00 game here in the States. That makes it irrelevant" ("Daily News Live," SNY, 10/20).
