Saints-Dolphins from London kicked off yesterday's NFL game coverage, and Fox drew a 4.8 overnight for the Saints' 20-0 win. Last year in the same Week 4 Sunday morning window, CBS drew a 5.5 overnight for Colts-Jaguars. Two years ago, Fox drew a 7.2 for Jets-Dolphins from London in the window. Looking at all NFL windows yesterday, Fox' singleheader took the win with a 12.6 overnight for coverage that included Rams-Cowboys, Panthers-Patriots, Giants-Buccaneers and Eagles-Chargers. Last year, CBS had the Week 4 singleheader, drawing a 10.6 overnight. In the national window yesterday, CBS aired Raiders-Broncos in 97% of markets, drawing a 10.8 overnight. That window had to compete not only with Giants-Bucs and Eagles-Chargers on Fox, but also with 49ers-Cardinals in the Bay Area TV market. Fox last year in Week 4's national window had Cowboys-49ers drawing a 14.8 overnight. NBC last night drew an 11.0 overnight for the Seahawks' 46-18 rout of the Colts. That is tied with Chiefs-Steelers last year as the lowest-rated Week 4 "SNF" telecast since '07, when NBC drew a 10.8 for Eagles-Giants. Despite being lower than in recent years, "SNF" still got a primetime win for NBC among all networks. Seattle-Tacoma led the way last night with a 42.5 local rating, followed by Indianapolis with a 21.0 (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
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NFL WEEK 4 SUNDAY OVERNIGHT RATINGS
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NET
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'17 TELECAST
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RAT.
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'16 NET
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'16 TELECAST
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RAT.
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Fox
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Saints-Dolphins (London)
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4.8
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CBS
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Colts-Jaguars (London)
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5.5
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Fox
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(single)
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12.6
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CBS
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(single)
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10.6
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CBS
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(regional)
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8.1
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Fox
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(regional)
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7.4
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CBS
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Raiders-Broncos (97%)
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10.8
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Fox
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Cowboys-49ers (84%)
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14.8
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NBC
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Colts-Seahawks
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11.0
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NBC
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Chiefs-Steelers
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11.0
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STAR SEARCHING: Fox Sports President & COO Eric Shanks said that this season's ratings have had "one of the most bizarre starts a season given all the news surrounding the league." SI.com's Richard Deitsch noted Fox is "down for the year but Shanks has hope that October will provide a robust viewership thanks to the Cowboys." Shanks: “We always knew that when we get into October it was the strength of our season. We still have five doubleheader Cowboys games left including Dallas-Green Bay and Dallas-Washington and Seattle-Dallas. We always knew our schedule was stacked at a certain part of the season" (
SI.com, 10/1). In Dallas, Barry Horn notes last week's Cowboys-Cardinals "MNF" game earned a "season-low" 29.0 local rating in Dallas-Ft. Worth on ESPN and WFAA-ABC (
DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 9/30).
BREAK IT DOWN: In Baltimore, David Zurawik writes CBS' Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts "didn’t deliver a great telecast" for yesterday's Steelers-Ravens game, but it was "more than worthy of what took place on the field." Eagle has "become one of the strongest play-by-play announcers on television." Overall, the production was "better than the game" (Baltimore SUN, 10/2). Meanwhile, THE MMQB's Peter King writes NBC had "great video" of Seahawks TE Jimmy Graham "flying to work in Seattle in his seaplane, landing on Lake Washington next to the Seahawks' facility" (MMQB.SI.com, 10/2).
CRYSTAL BALLING: In N.Y., Kevin Draper writes CBS' Tony Romo as an analyst is a "full-blown TV marvel, appointment viewing for the NFL’s legion of fans." He is an announcer who "can predict what play is going to happen on the field before the ball is snapped." He is "that good." Romo's transition was "not expected to go well -- at least not at first." But Romo has "infectious enthusiasm, and he rarely uses cliches." His analysis "goes much deeper than most broadcasters.'" Of Romo's pre-play predictions, CBS Sports Chair Sean McManus said, "It has been a little bit overblown." When asked what Romo needed to improve on, he said, “His timing with [play-by-play man Jim Nantz] will continue to get better.” McManus said that he "hadn't heard from any teams complaining about Romo's commentary" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/2). There is "already a petition" to make Romo the "voice of future Madden football games" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 10/1).
DREAM SCENARIO: In Ft. Worth, Elizabeth Campbell notes blind Cowboys fan Pete Lane yesterday was able to get a play-by-play of Rams-Cowboys by Pro Football HOFer Emmitt Smith. With the help of "smart glasses used to transmit video and audio via a high-speed link to Smith, Lane experienced the sounds and sights of the game much like other fans at the game." Lane was "selected for the event to highlight technology" developed by San Diego-based startup Aira. The smart glasses "work in conjunction with a smartphone app that allows a blind person to get verbal descriptions from agents who are specially trained on how to give detailed descriptions of everything from sporting events to navigating through airports." Aira has a partnership with Dallas-based AT&T to "provide high-quality connections for the service and to work with Aira on expanding the technology for more uses" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 10/2).
