‘Sunday Night Football’ Ratings Surge As Eagles Claw Cowboys; Trump Says NFL Should “Suspend” Marshawn Lynch

As the various dramas surrounding Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones whirl around the NFL and Donald Trump today called for the suspension of the Oakland Raiders’ Marshawn Lynch for not standing for “The Star-Spangled Banner” during a league game against the New England Patriots in Mexico City yesterday, Sunday Night Football seemed almost a low-key affair.

Going distinctly not low-key, the President got going early this morning and once again centered his social media spotlight on the continuing protests taking place on the sidelines of NFL games.

In that context, SNF could seem low-key that is unless you are the Philadelphia Eagles and you demolished the Cowboys 37-9 last night on SNF in Arlington, Texas. In what was the Cowboys’ worst loss ever at AT&T Stadium, every member of both teams escaped Trump’s anger as they all stood for the National Anthem in a Week 11 that saw protests through the day at home and abroad. On the field itself, the blowout win sees the team from the City of Brotherly Love with the NFL’s best record at 9-1 and dominating the NFC East.

However, with such a lopsided game and facing the American Music Awards on ABC, Sunday Night Football itself scored a 13.5/22 in metered market results – a very not low-key rating for the NFL and NBC.

Even with the big point spread, the ratings-challenged league and network won again by having the big-draw Cowboys playing and maybe getting some political calm on the sidelines. Last night’s game was up 17% from last week’s SNF to hit the best rating for any NFL primtime matchup since Week 1 of the season. Which, of course, is a solid win for the night for the net.

Looking back to last week, that 8:30-11:30 PM ET Patriots’ 41-16 beatdown of the Denver Broncos on November 12 went on to snare a 5.8/20 rating among adults 18-49 with 17.5 million fans watching.

Compared to the Week 11 SNF of last year, last night’s Eagles win saw an uptick of 14% over the Green Bay Packers 42-24 loss to the Washington Redskins on November 20, 2016. Also up against an AMAs, that game last fall ended up with a night winning 6.2/19 in the key demo and a viewership of 18.73 million.

We’ll update with more SNF numbers as well as the ratings for the AMAs, 60 Minutes, Family Guy and more later. While you wait for those, last night’s SNF peaked between 9:30-10 PM ET with a 14.4/23 in metered market numbers.

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