ESPN last night drew a 7.9 overnight rating for the Giants' 21-20 win over the Bengals on "MNF," down 8% from an 8.6 overnight for Texans-Bengals in Week 10 last year. ESPN in '14 drew a 7.8 overnight for the Eagles' 45-21 rout of the Panthers in Week 10. Last night's game peaked at an 8.9 rating between 9:45-10:00pm ET and is likely to give ESPN a primetime win across all broadcast and cable nets. The game drew a 27.5 local rating in Cincinnati (18.5 on WLWT-NBC, 9.0 on ESPN) and a 14.1 in N.Y. (4.7 on WPIX-CW, 9.4 on ESPN). ESPN's streaming audience for the game saw a 34% increase over '15 with 234,000 average minute viewers (Josh Carpenter, Assistant Editor).
FEELIN' KINDA SUNDAY: NBC on Sunday night finished with 22.51 million viewers for Seahawks-Patriots on "SNF," marking the most-watched Week 10 NFL primetime game in 18 years (22.54 million for Packers-Steelers on ABC's "MNF" in '98). NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports App also drew 956,000 unique viewers for Seahawks-Pats, NBC's highest ever for a Sunday NFL game, excluding Super Bowls. NBC-only viewership for Seahawks-Pats peaked at 24.5 million from 9:30-9:45pm, while the closing minutes of the game averaged 23.0 million viewers between 11:30-11:43pm (NBC). ESPN's Ryan Clark said, "The old tricky NFL knew to put this game at this time, right when the election ended, to make sure that people had something good to watch" ("NFL Live," ESPN, 11/14). In Toronto, Damien Cox writes Week 10 "may turn out to be the juncture at which the NFL got its swagger back with a pair of sparkling marquee matchups that, for a change, delivered on their hype and strong narratives." Ratings for Week 10 was "music to the ears" of Commissioner Roger Goodell, "who for one week at least can stop 'splaining himself" (TORONTO STAR, 11/15).
CALLING AN AUDIBLE: On Long Island, Neil Best notes the NFL yesterday "used its flex scheduling powers ... to spare the nation a prime-time game involving the Jets to cap off Thanksgiving weekend." On the surface, it was a "no-brainer to move the Chiefs (currently 7-2) and Broncos (7-3) to 'Sunday Night Football' and the Patriots (7-2) and Jets (3-7) to a late-afternoon slot." NBC Sports Exec Producer Sam Flood said, "You look at the records of the two teams we’re covering: Arguably one or both could be in the AFC Championship Game and they’re playing each other. If you’re making the decision, I think you’d want to have that on your air." He added, "The Patriots are a powerful brand and great organization that knows how to win and knows how to attract eyeballs. But sometimes you have to make a decision and the league obviously made a decision here based on what they thought would be in the best interests of the fans” (NEWSDAY, 11/15). In N.Y., Manish Mehta notes at a time when the NFL ratings are slumping, league decision makers "evidently didn't want to subject the rest of the nation to the slop that the Jets have churned out for the better part of two months." Jets Owner Woody Johnson's team is "so horrific that it knocked Tom Brady off the national stage" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/15).
MILE HIGH SOLUTION: In Boston, Chad Finn notes Pats-Broncos on Dec. 18 (Week 15) would "seem a candidate to be flexed into prime time, but league rules will prevent that from happening," as no more than three teams are "permitted to play six prime-time games from Weeks 1-16." The Broncos "already have played four games in prime time." With the Pats-Jets Week 12 change, the Broncos now have two more scheduled, both against the Chiefs, and the second is on Christmas night (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/15). In Denver, Nicki Jhabvala notes the Week 12 Broncos-Chiefs matchup will be the team's 31st primetime game since John Elway joined the front office in '11, the "most of any team in that span" (DENVER POST, 11/15).
SALT IN THE WOUND: NBC's Cris Collinsworth on Sunday night "didn’t take too well to a critical lob thrown his way" by HBO's Bill Simmons during Seahawks-Patriots (VARIETY.com, 11/14). Simmons during "SNF" tweeted someone needed to "gently break the news to Collinsworth that the Pats have a weak front 7 and that's why Seattle's o-line looks good." Late yesterday afternoon, Collinsworth responded to Simmons with an apparent reference to his recently canceled show "Any Given Wednesday." Collinsworth tweeted, "Thanks Bills, we'll look for you 'gently' breaking it down on that hit show of yours." Collinsworth later deleted the tweet (TWITTER.com, 11/14). SI.com's Kenny Ducey wrote under the header, "Cris Collinsworth Throws Down Vicious Dunk On Bill Simmons" (SI.com, 11/14).
BROKEN FIN: In Miami, Barry Jackson notes despite the Dolphins’ four-game winning streak, Sunday’s game against the Chargers generated a "disappointing" 12.4 local rating in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, which is "well below what most NFL teams generate in their home market." Dolphins games this season have "consistently generated ratings in the 12 and 13 range, down from a 16.9 average rating last season" (MIAMI HERALD, 11/15).
