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Eagles' "MNF" Rout Of Panthers The Latest In Unparalleled Series Of Primetime Blowouts

ESPN drew a 7.8 overnight rating for the Eagles' 45-21 win over the Panthers last night, matching Chargers-Cardinals in the late doubleheader window from Week 1 as the lowest-rated "MNF" game this season to date. The 7.8 overnight also is down slightly from a 7.9 for Dolphins-Buccaneers in Week 10 last season. Last night's game peaked at a 9.9 rating from 9:15-9:30pm ET. The game drew a 28.4 local rating in Philadelphia (14.3 on ESPN, 14.1 on WPHL-Ind.), while Charlotte drew an 18.7 rating (8.1 on ESPN, 10.6 on WSOC-ABC) (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).

COOKING WITH CHUCKY: YAHOO SPORTS' Eric Edholm writes with nine minutes remaining in last night's game, ESPN's Jon Gruden "busted out the props," including a blender, pineapple, banana, grapes and creatine powder. The idea behind showing those items coincided with an anecdote about Eagles coach Chip Kelly "and health benefits and shakes," but the result was "instant broadcasting brilliance." Edholm: "The producers knew there was a better-than-decent chance this game, like most others at night these days, could turn into a laugher. No matter the reason, it was amazing television" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 11/11). NFL Network's Andrew Siciliano wrote on Twitter, "Gruden has a blender. I would totally watch a Gruden cooking show." Bleacher Report's Jason Cole: "#MNF turning into a segment of Dr. Oz with Gruden/Tirico as the hosts." The L.A. Times' Sam Farmer: "Everyone in America was praying, PRAYING that Gruden would flip the switch on that blender without putting the top on." Rockies P Brett Anderson: "Future Monday Night Football games if a team goes up by 14 they should let Gruden play with a different household appliance each quarter." SB Nation's Spencer Hall: "You laugh but having Tirico and Gruden do live cooking demos in the booth during every game would be fantastic."

THE FREAKS COME OUT AT NIGHT: CSNBAYAREA.com's Ray Ratto noted after last night's blowout, primetime games this season "are averaging a victory margin of 17.8 points, or three full possessions." The Sunday games this year "have an average margin of 21.4, the Thursday games 20.5, and the Monday games 12.1 because of two garbage-time" Panthers touchdowns. The daylight games "get settled at an average of 11.8 points per game" (CSNBAYAREA.com, 11/10). In DC, Matt Bonesteel wrote the "closest game on a Sunday night over the past eight weeks" was the Steelers' 37-19 win over the Panthers on Sept. 21, and the average "margin of victory in those eight games has been 23.5 points." Patriots-Colts is set for this coming Sunday night, and Bonesteel wrote, "This has to be a good game, right? Please?" The scheduled Week 12 "SNF" game is Cowboys-Giants, and Bonesteel wondered whether the league and NBC would "rather have" Cardinals-Seahawks in "what could be a huge NFC West game." It is "a question of ratings vs. a desire for a competitive game." Broncos-Chiefs is the "SNF" game for Week 13, "which isn’t bad, and there isn’t anything else on the schedule that merits the Sunday night spotlight" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 11/10). USATODAY's Chris Chase noted the "historically unwatchable" primetime games have "nothing to do with the broadcasts themselves." "SNF" is the "best telecast in sports" and "TNF" is as "slickly produced as any sporting event on television." Meanwhile, Gruden and Mike Tirico have "settled into a nice groove" on "MNF." However, there have already been more blowouts of 20 points or more in primetime "than in the previous three seasons combined." Chase: "The quality of a broadcast doesn't matter if the product is horrid" (USATODAY.com, 11/10).

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: AMC's "The Walking Dead" on Sunday night, which aired from 9:00-10:00pm, beat Bears-Packers in the advertiser-friendly 18-49 demo for the third time in five episodes this season. "The Walking Dead" posted a 7.0 rating in the demo, compared to a 6.5 for "SNF," which featured the Packers jumping out to a 42-0 lead by halftime. AMC also drew strong numbers for its post-episode talk show, "Talking Dead." Season averages for both AMC shows through five episodes are up double digits from Season 4 averages in viewership and adults 18-49 (John Ourand, Staff Writer).

LOCAL NUMBERS: In Chicago, Ed Sherman noted nearly 600,000 area homes "still were tuned in" during the last 15 minutes of Bears-Packers Sunday night, "suggesting there are no limitations to how much punishment some Bears fans will endure." The game did a 25.0 local rating on WMAQ-NBC, with one ratings point "worth 35,500 homes." While that "is a huge number, the rating would have been in the 30s with an even remotely competitive game" (CHICAGOTRIBUNE.com, 11/10)....In Dallas, Barry Horn noted Sunday's Cowboys-Jaguars game from London earned a 27.4 local rating in Dallas-Ft. Worth, marking the "best number of the season for a noon kickoff on Fox" (DALLASNEWS.com, 11/10).

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: In Baltimore, Aaron Wilson reports Ravens coach John Harbaugh yesterday "downplayed the significance" of CBS airing his postgame remarks to players following Sunday's win against the Titans. Harbaugh said, "I never gave it any thought, one way or the other. You'd like to have your 10 minutes of private time with your team. We're going to talk to our team in an honest and straightforward way." He added, "I don't think any other team in the league cares what a coach says to his team after a game. I'm not too worried about that." Harbaugh indicated that he "didn't know if the Ravens would limit access to the locker room after games going forward." Wilson notes league rules allow NFL Films "to be in the locker room immediately after the game" (Baltimore SUN, 11/11).

'BECK IN THE SADDLE: ESPN.com's Mike Wells noted Colts QB Matt Hasselbeck "was working" Sunday during his bye week as "part of the three-man team with Chris Myers and Ronde Barber" during Fox’ broadcast of Rams-Cardinals. Hasselbeck: "I don’t know how it went. I haven’t seen it. I felt like some things went really well. I felt like some things were a bunch of incompletions so to speak." Hasselbeck previously "worked with Myers some during the week of last season’s Super Bowl" (ESPN.com, 11/10).

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