So is there a crossover game this week? Is Fox airing an AFC game or is CBS showing an NFC game?
It’s the latter. The NFL flexed Philadelphia at Green Bay into the 4:25 p.m. ET window. That was originally slated for 1 p.m. on Fox and it will remain on Fox as it has the doubleheader this week.
So that left an imbalance at 1 p.m. The NFL gave Minnesota at Chicago to CBS. It’s an old school NFL Central matchup on CBS. With Chicago in the dumps lately, it’s not as an attractive game as it looked earlier in the season. But CBS is assigning Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon to the game. And the game gets a sideline reporter as Stacey Dales is being borrowed from NFL Network. Stacey has experience on the sidelines as she was once used on the sidelines on ESPN’s college football coverage.
Anything else sticks out?
Yes, in the five games that CBS is airing this week, all of them have a sideline presence. Even the Oakland at San Diego game at 4:05 p.m. will have Scott Kaplan on the sidelines joining Spero Dedes and Solomon Wilcots. When CBS utilized sideline reporters regularly when it re-joined the NFL in 1998, it only had Bonnie Berntstein and Armen Keteyian or Michele Tafoya.
Ok, enough of CBS. Let’s provide Fox with some time. What should we know about the NFL on Fox today?
Well, Seattle at Kansas City (Kenny Albert/Daryl Johnston/Tony Siragusa) is its main game at 1 p.m. ET going to 49% of the country. At 4:25, the aforementioned Green Bay at Philadelphia (Joe Buck/Troy Aikman//Erin Andrews) will be sent to 84% of the USA while the other late game, Detroit at Arizona (Chris Myers/Ronde Barber//Jennifer Hale) will go to 14% of the USA.
What else?
Denver fans who hate Phil Simms get a respite from the analyst today as Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts//Jenny Dell are on the Broncos-St. Louis Rams game. On the Houston-Cleveland game, Andrew Catalon/Steve Tasker//Steve Beuerlein will be in Northern Ohio and it will be the first of two consecutive games for that trio on Browns games as they’ll call Cleveland at Atlanta in Week 12.
By the way, if the Browns keep winning, expect CBS to assign their top announcing teams to their games, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet.
Are we waiting all day for Sunday night?
Yes we are. We have a good game tonight as the New England Patriots take on their old rival, the Indianapolis Colts. Only time will tell if we get yet another primetime blowout or if we get a good game for once. NBC is giddy over the potential ratings as the Patriots are usually good for a viewing uptick, but if the game is over before halftime either way, we’ll be checking if The Walking Dead on AMC will eat some numbers away from the Peacock. Did you see what I did there?
Yeah, yeah, whatever. So are the Sunday night blowouts hurting the ratings?
You would think, but they really aren’t. NBC’s ratings are off slightly from last season, just two percent. That’s not bad considering some games like Chicago-Green Bay last week were over by the opening kickoff.
Funny. What else?
Nothing. Enjoy Week 11 and I’ll be back next Sunday.
