ESPN earned a 9.2 overnight Nielsen rating for the Packers' 45-7 win over the Vikings on "MNF" from 8:30-11:30pm ET, down 12.4% from a 10.5 overnight for the Eagles' 59-28 win over the Redskins in Week 10 last year. In Minneapolis-St. Paul, the game earned a 10.9 local rating on ESPN and a 26.0 rating on KARE-NBC. In Milwaukee, the game earned an 18.4 local rating on ESPN and a 37.3 rating on WISN-ABC (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).
SUPERMAN? In Milwaukee, Bob Wolfley wrote, "The quarterback is spectacular. The offense is superb. The defense is underachieving. That sums up the sentiments expressed by the National Football League analysts leading up to and during the Vikings-Packers telecast on ESPN’s 'Monday Night Football.'" When the commentary turned to Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, it was "as if the analysts were talking about a comic book super hero and not a quarterback." ESPN's Ron Jaworski "couldn’t offer enough superlatives about Rodgers’ play." Jaworski: "I have never seen the position played better" (JSONLINE.com, 11/14). Wolfley noted with Hank Williams Jr. "no longer part of the 'Monday Night Football' open, ESPN has been using other formats," and for last night's game, the league's theme was "tied to honoring veterans." An ESPN crew Saturday was in Oshkosh to "tape a piece with a Marine reserve group from Green Bay." On Sunday, ESPN was at Lambeau Field with 27-year-old Jake Wood who voiced the "remarks at the start of the national telecast" (JSONLINE.com, 11/15).
VOICING CRITICISM: In N.Y., Bob Raissman notes former NFLer Amani Toomer is "new at the TV game but he's making progress," and Sunday was his "best performance to date." On Sunday's postgame show following the Giants' loss to the 49ers on WWOR-MYT, Toomer "and the rest of us watched a parade of Giants" said that they "were expecting [QB Eli] Manning to once again pull a game out down the stretch." Toomer "basically said the Giants were using Manning as a crutch, too comfortable with the notion he could pull their butts out of the fire." Toomer said that "this kind of dependency ... will destroy a team" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/15).
