FROM KEITH GROLLER
The first weekend of the new NFL season proved that America's passion for the pigskin hasn't dropped off at all.
NBC's two national broadcasts -- the Sunday Night game between the Cowboys and Giants and last Thursday's season opener between the Broncos and Ravens -- were the highest-rated primetime shows of the week, attracting more than 50 million viewers combined.
Here's a chart from Variety:
Total Viewers (in millions)
1. Sunday Night Football: NY Giants-Dallas (NBC), 25.40
2. NFL Thursday Kickoff: Baltimore-Denver (NBC), 25.13
3. NFL Thursday Kickoff pre-game (NBC), 18.03
4. Under the Dome (CBS), 11.15
5. Duck Dynasty (A&E), 10.46
6. America’s Got Talent-Wednesday (NBC), 10.03
7. 60 Minutes (CBS), 9.34
8. America’s Got Talent-Tuesday (NBC), 9.16
9. NCIS-r (CBS), 9.11
10. College football: Notre Dame-Michigan (ESPN), 8.65
But Fox and ESPN were also off to a good start.
Fox had a doubleheader with four games in the regional window and two games in the late national window dominated by Green Bay at San Francisco going to 94% of the country.
The doubleheader averaged 21.8 million viewers nationally, both record-highs for an NFL on Fox opening week, and an 11 percent gain from last year's Week 1 doubleheader.
The Green Bay-San Francisco game averaged 28.5 million viewers, the NFL on FOX’s best Week 1 national game rating ever.
ESPN's Monday Night Football doubleheader, featuring the debut of Chip Kelly's of Eagles offense and the return of RG3 drew huge numbers.
The Eagles' 33-27 victory was the highest rated Monday Night Football opener since ESPN started airing the games in 2006.
The Eagles-Redskins game drew an average of more than 16.5 million viewers and generated a household rating of 10.1, according to Nielsen.
Previously, the highest rated MNF opening game was the 2010 contest between the Ravens and Jets, which drew nearly 15 million viewers and a 9.4 rating.
The Eagles' victory had more than 20.9 million viewers at its peak, which happened at 10-10:15 p.m. Eastern.
The second game, which saw the Texans rally to beat the Chargers 31-28, took in nearly 11 million viewers and earned a rating of 7.1.
The games were the No. 1 and No. 2 telecasts of the night across all networks, drawing an average of almost 14 million viewers and a rating of 8.7.
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.
1. Sunday Night Football: NY Giants-Dallas (NBC), 25.40
2. NFL Thursday Kickoff: Baltimore-Denver (NBC), 25.13
3. NFL Thursday Kickoff pre-game (NBC), 18.03
4. Under the Dome (CBS), 11.15
5. Duck Dynasty (A&E), 10.46
6. America’s Got Talent-Wednesday (NBC), 10.03
7. 60 Minutes (CBS), 9.34
8. America’s Got Talent-Tuesday (NBC), 9.16
9. NCIS-r (CBS), 9.11
10. College football: Notre Dame-Michigan (ESPN), 8.65
The Eagles-Redskins game drew an average of more than 16.5 million viewers and generated a household rating of 10.1, according to Nielsen.
Previously, the highest rated MNF opening game was the 2010 contest between the Ravens and Jets, which drew nearly 15 million viewers and a 9.4 rating.
The Eagles' victory had more than 20.9 million viewers at its peak, which happened at 10-10:15 p.m. Eastern.
The second game, which saw the Texans rally to beat the Chargers 31-28, took in nearly 11 million viewers and earned a rating of 7.1.
The games were the No. 1 and No. 2 telecasts of the night across all networks, drawing an average of almost 14 million viewers and a rating of 8.7.
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.
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