NFL Week 13 Overnights: Fox' Packers-Giants Marks League's Third-Best Audience Of '11

Fox led all NFL telecasts yesterday with an 18.5 overnight for its national window, which featured the Packers last-second win over the Giants in 77% of markets. That rating marks the NFL’s third-highest overnight of the ’11 season, behind only Fox’ national window broadcasts in Week Six (19.1) and Week Nine (18.6). The rating is also up 2.8% from the net’s window featuring Cowboys-Colts in Week 13 last year. Fox also earned an 11.0 overnight for regional coverage in the early window, flat compared to last year. NBC earned an 11.9 overnight for the Lions-Saints “SNF” telecast last night, down 18.5% from Steelers-Ravens last year. Although “SNF” was the top-rated show for the night, NBC tied with Fox for top-rated network, as Fox was boosted by Giants-Packers bleeding into primetime. New Orleans topped all markets for the “SNF” telecast with a 56.3 local rating, followed by Detroit with a 26.5 rating. CBS earned a 12.3 for its singleheader yesterday, which featured Bengals-Steelers. That rating is up 26.8% from a 9.7 overnight last year (Austin Karp, THE DAILY).

MEDIA MUSINGS: In Baltimore, David Zurawik writes CBS' Bill Macatee and Steve Tasker, who called yesterday's Ravens-Browns game, brought some "intensity" to the broadcast, which was "nice for a change." But it was "still another sloppy, lazy telecast with little co-ordination between the team in the broadcast booth and the crew in the production truck." Zurawik: "The more I watch the Ravens on CBS Sports, the more I wonder why no one in management is kicking these NFL producers and broadcast teams in the butt and telling them mediocre is not good enough." It is a "privilege to cover the NFL ... so why aren’t the folks at CBS Sports motivated enough to try and be as good as NBC on Sunday nights or the NFL Network on Thursdays?" What is "really maddening is the lack of enterprise and original research from these broadcasters." Just like CBS' Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf, the "only kind of backstage or inside information that Macatee and Tasker shared with viewers Sunday came from the coaches or the players" (Baltimore SUN, 12/5). In St. Petersburg, Tom Jones writes Fox NFL insider Jay Glazer "doesn't get much air time on 'Fox NFL Sunday,' but he makes the most of it." His "every second is jam-packed with information and insight." Jones adds, "Given a choice, I'd rather listen to" Fox' Joe Buck and Troy Aikman than CBS' Jim Nantz and Phil Simms (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 12/5). 

MISSING THE ENDING: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick notes "with a minute left in regulation, and the score tied, Fox had to drop" Broncos-Vikings locally for the start of Packers-Giants. Mushnick asks, "Why not send the rest of Broncs-Vikes to FX or even Fox News Channel? Ten more minutes, at most" (N.Y. POST, 12/5). ESPN's Bob Ley wrote on Twitter, "aw, come on Fox, you're jerking me around from game to game, and away from Tebow....what a mess."

PICK ONE: In DC, Tracee Hamilton writes Fox "needs to decide what kind of network it wants to be." Hamilton asked, "Is it a serious NFL network that’s going to give us the good with the bad and show us what’s really going on, or is it going to whitewash the game for its NFL overlords?" During the Packers-Lions Thanksgiving Day game, the net "had no trouble showing [Lions DT] Ndamukong Suh’s stomping of Green Bay’s [OL] Evan Dietrich-Smith repeatedly." During the Nov. 27 Redskins-Seahawks game, the teams "began exchanging words and shoves during the pregame coin toss, and the jawing and shoving continued throughout the entire first half." Hamilton: "Yet Fox’s cameras were often elsewhere. Viewers could see players on the sideline reacting to what was happening on the field -- but not what was happening on the field." Once during a "skirmish, Fox sent us to the studio for a really important 'game break' to show a touchdown from another game." At the end of the half, Fox "finally gave in and showed us a montage of what we'd missed" (WASHINGTON POST, 12/5).

CLOSE TO A SURE THING: CBS Sports Chair Sean McManus yesterday said that Colts QB Peyton Manning is an "off-the-charts TV prospect." McManus: "There are no sure things in broadcasting. But if Peyton wanted to pursue it as a career, he's as close to that as anyone I've ever seen." McManus added that CBS "isn't looking to add analysts, saying CBS also hasn't had contact with Brett Favre, also once seen as a can't-miss TV prospect" (USA TODAY, 12/5).