NFL Week Seven Overnights: Fox Up With Packers-Vikings In The National Window

The NFL's national TV partners saw a mixed bag for Week Seven overnight Nielsen ratings. Fox' national window featuring Packers-Vikings led all telecasts with a 16.3 overnight, up around 8% from CBS' national window in Week Seven last year, which featured Patriots-Chargers. However, the net saw an 11% drop for its regional coverage in the early window. NBC had the Saints' blowout win over the Colts for "SNF" matchup, which also aired up against World Series Game Four. The 8.2 overnight for the game was down nearly 50% from the Packers-Vikings matchup featuring Brett Favre last year. This also marked the first week of the season that NBC did not win Sunday night in primetime. CBS earned a 10.6 for its singleheader, down slightly compared to Week Seven last year (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: In Denver, Dusty Saunders notes during yesterday's Broncos-Dolphins game, CBS' Kevin Harlan and Solomon Wilcots "kept the game in focus, regularly commenting on the ineptitude of the teams' offenses" until Broncos QB Tim Tebow "caught fire late in the fourth quarter." Wilcots was "regularly critical until Tebow time arrived -- legitimately questioning his accuracy on long passes." And Wilcots "often criticized Tebow for getting sacked instead of throwing away the ball." But the announcers' attitudes "changed as they noted that Tebow's athletic ability and enthusiasm created an energy on the field that fueled the Broncos in the final two minutes and in overtime" (DENVER POST, 10/24).

JUST ANOTHER GAME: In St. Petersburg, Tom Jones writes the Bears-Buccaneers game in London "was just another NFL game" for American fans, and Fox "treated it as such." Other than "a few shots of Big Ben (the clock, not the quarterback) and Stonehenge and the like, you really wouldn't know the game was being played in another country." Jones: "The question is: Why doesn’t the NFL make a bigger deal out of it? Why not make it an event for the people in the United States, too? The game went out to only 17 percent of the country" (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 10/24).

RUNNING TOO LONG? ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY's Jeff Labrecque writes NBC's "Football Night In America," last night seemed "uncharacteristically off its game, causing me to wonder for the first time whether the 75-minute show is too long." Reporters Peter King and Mike Florio had "good scoop," but "later in the program, when Dan Patrick checked back in with them, they simply regurgitated those same reports practically verbatim." Neither report "seemed world-stopping enough to be recycled to the loyal audience watching from the outset (EW.com, 10/24).

DON'T CALL ME, I'LL CALL YOU: On Long Island, Mark La Monica noted Jets CB Darrelle Revis appeared on WFAN-AM's "Mike Francesa" Friday afternoon when the discussion turned to Revis' interception on Dolphins WR Brandon Marshall during last week's "MNF" game. Francesa "thought it was a penalty and got after Revis about it." Jets PR Dir Jared Winley then "told Revis to hang up," and he did (NEWSDAY.com, 10/21). In N.Y., Bob Raissman noted Winley "made the only mistake here." Raissman: "That mistake wasn't his decision to tell Revis to end the conversation, it was Winley, perhaps under orders, issuing a public apology to Francesa." If anything, Winley and Revis "should be saluted for making Francesa swallow the medicine he force feeds WFAN callers daily." Raissman: "It was excellent radio" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/23).